Kenyon Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Kenyon Family History

Kenyon Family History

The Kenyon ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. The name Kenyon can be of English origin from where it was introduced into Ulster Province in Ireland during the seventeenth century. In Ireland the name Kenyon is also an anglicized form of a number of Gaelic septs.

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 MacCoinin sept of County Mayo anglicized their native name as Cunneen, Cunnane, Rabbit and Kenyon. The MacFhinghin sept of County Roscommon also anglicized their name as Kenyon as well as Keenan and Kenning. In modern times the name Kenyon in Ireland is mostly found in Ulster and in County Mayo. The Kenyon 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 Kenyon descendants.