Galvin Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Galvin Family History

Galvin Family History

The family history of the ancient name Galvin was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. The name Galvin is derived from the Gaelic O'Gealbhain sept name, possibly derived from the Gaelic words 'geal', meaning 'bright' and 'ban', meaning 'white'.

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.

The Galvins are a sept of Thomond and are mentioned among the County Clare septs who took part in the Battle of Loughraska, otherwise called the Battle of Corcomroe Abbey, in the year 1317. Representatives of the sept have remained continuously in their original homeland and are still found today in Counties Clare and Kerry. A branch located in County Roscommon was strong enough to be included among the more numerous names in the barony of Athlone in the 1659 census. The prefix 'O' is seldom used with this name in modern times. Galvan and Gallivan are variants mostly found in County Kerry.The Galvin 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 Galvin descendants.