Timmons Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Timmons Family History

Timmons Family History

The family history of the ancient name Timmons 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 Timmons include Timmins, Timon, Tymon and McTomyn. This name in Irish is MacToimin or O'Tiomain and the latter variants are the anglicized forms of these Gaelic names. This sept came from Carlow.

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.

This sept was a branch of the Barretts of Tirawley of County Mayo. They were originally of Welsh origin and settled in Ireland around the fifteenth century when a William Tomyne was a parliamentary collector for Kildare. By the seventeenth century Timmons was a principal Irish name in two baronies of County Carlow where the townland Ballytimmin was named for them. One of the family was Bishop of Buffalo in America, his family having emigrated from County Cavan in the year 1796. In modern times this name is found mostly in its original territory. The Timmons 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 Timmons descendants.