Roche Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Roche Family History

Roche Family History

The Roche ancient family history 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 Roche include Roach and Rochfort. This name may be regarded today as totally Irish. It originated in France as de la Roche, meaning 'of the rock', and came to Ireland with the Anglo-Norman invasion in the twelfth century. This Sept are particularly associated with County Cork where they were a powerful family. There is a large area around Fermoy which has long been known as Roche's Country. The head of this family is Baron Fermoy. The placename Rochestown occurs in Counties Wexford, Cork, Kilkenny, Limerick, Tipperary, Kildare, Meath, Westmeath and Dublin. In the mediaeval period the name was often written de Rupe. In the same way de Rupefort is equivalent to Rochfort, the name of a Hiber-Norman family whose association with Westmeath is perpetuated in the village of Rochfortbridge.The Roche 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 Roche descendants.