Kent Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Kent Family History

Kent Family History

The Kent ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. Meaning 'of Kent', Kent is a locational name. Variants include Kente, Kentish and Kintish. This name is of Anglo-Saxon descent spreading to the Celtic countries of Ireland, Scotland and Wales in early times and is found in many mediaeval manuscripts throughout the above islands. Examples of such are a Robert de Kent, County Norfolk, a Richard de Kenteys, County Hampshire, and a Gilbert de Kent, County Lincolnshire, who were all recorded in the 'Hundred Rolls', England, in the year 1273. A Johannes de Kent was recorded in the 'Poll Tax' of the West Riding of Yorkshire in the year 1379. In Scotland a family of this name, were English vassals of the Stewards, and settled at Innerwick in East Lothian, in the middle of the twelfth century.

In Ireland this name and its variants were introduced into Ulster Province by settlers who arrived from England and Scotland, especially during the seventeenth century. During the 'Plantations of Ireland' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Ireland was colonized by the English Crown with this period marking the end of Gaelic supremacy in Ireland. This period brought an influx of settlers into the country but, unlike the earlier Anglo-Norman invasion of the twelfth century that resulted in a full integration into Irish society of the new arrivals, the same never occurred with the Ulster Planters who maintained their own distinct identity.

Some settlers of the name arrived into County Meath as early as the thirteenth century.The Kent 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 Kent descendants.