McNeice Coat of Arms, Family Crest and McNeice Family History

McNeice Family History

The family history of the ancient name McNeice was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. The ancient name McNeice is derived from the Gaelic MacNaois sept that was located in Ulster Province in Ireland.

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.

When Gaelic names were anglicized during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries they were often changed to Anglo equivalents that sounded most like their original Gaelic name. Other anglicized forms of this name include McNees, McNeish, McNeece and McNeese. This name can also be of Scottish origin given that there was a lot of migration between Scotland and Ulster. The Gaelic MacAonghuss sept name was also anglicized as McNeice as well as Neesan and McGuinness. The McNeice 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 McNeice descendants.