Mulvany Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Mulvany Family History

Mulvany Family History

The ancient origin of the name Mulvany 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 Mulvany include Mulvenna, O'Mulvey and Mulvey. This name in Irish is O'Maoilmheana and the latter variants are the anglicized forms of this. This sept came from County Derry.

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.

Before the destruction of the Gaelic order in the seventeenth century the sept was located in O'Cahans Country, County Derry and they were hereditary Ollavs to O'Cahan. The first of the name mentioned in history was O'MaoilMheana in the year 1164, who was fourteenth in descent from Eoghan, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages. The name is associated with the River Meana at Randalstown, now the River Main. The name means 'devotee of the Meana' and by the seventeenth century their homeland had moved to the adjacent County of Antrim, in the Barony of Glenarm. Mulvenna is the usual form in Ulster with Mulvany outside the Province. The Mulvany 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 Mulvany descendants.