Ferris Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Ferris Family History

Ferris Family History

The ancient origin of the name Ferris 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 Ferris include DeFerrers, Farris, Farrissa, Farrissy and Farrisy. These names are derived from the Gaelic O'Fearghusa sept whose name was also anglicized as Fergus. This sept was 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.

They were hereditary physicians to the O'Malleys and were located in the parish of Burrishoole in the year 1303. They were still considerable landowners in Burrishoole and Carra in the year 1635 with the document that records them there spelling their name as Farregish. A separate branch of the sept is found in North East Ulster. The town Carrickfergus in County Antrim is named after Fergus MacRoigh who was the 'Red Branch' hero of the Tain, he being the ancestor of several Irish septs.The Ferris 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 Ferris descendants.