Fanning Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Fanning Family History

Fanning Family History

The Fanning ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives.

Surnames developed a wide number of variants over the centuries. Many different spelling variations of the same name can be traced back to a single original root. Also, when a bearer of a name emigrated from Ireland it was not uncommon that their original name would be incorrectly transcribed in the record books upon arrival at their new location. Some names have dozens of spelling variations. Some Surnames were also altered over the years based on how they sounded phonetically, by their sound, and depending on the prevailing political conditions it may have been advantageous to change a name from one language to another. This was especially so in Ireland where most Gaelic names were 'anglicized' at some stage.

Variants of the name Fanning include Finan, Finane and Fannery. This name in Irish is O'Fionnain and the latter variants are anglicized forms of this. This sept came from County Mayo.

A sept or clan is a collective term describing a group of persons whose immediate ancestors bore a common surname and inhabited the same territory. It is also the case that many Irish septs or clans that are related often belong to a larger groups, sometimes called tribes. For example the 'Tribes of Galway' consisted of fourteen distinct families. The 'Tribes of Kilkenny' were ten families, etc.

Their sept was of the Ui Fiachrach Muaighe and they were Chiefs of Coolcarney in County Mayo. By the seventeenth century they had branched out to Roscommon and Sligo and in the 1659 Census they are called Finane and Finan. A most noteable person of the Hy Fiachrach sept was Dr. Francis Joseph O'Finan O.S.D., Bishop of Killala in the year 1847. The oldest record of the name was that of Saint Finan and this goes back to the year 661. The name is derived from a very old Gaelic word that translates as 'Fair'. The Fanning family crest (or coat of arms) came into existence many centuries ago. The process of creating these coats of arms began as early as the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this, including Ireland. The new more formalized art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own family crest, coat of arms, including Fanning descendants.