Turley Coat of Arms, Family Crest and Turley Family History

Turley Family History

The Turley ancient family history was found in the irishsurnames.com archives. Variants of the name Irish Turley include Torley, Curley, Curlee, Kerley and Terry. These names are derived from the Gaelic Mac Thoirdealbhaigh sept that was located in Counties Armagh and Down in Ulster Province.

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 Gaelic name is ultimately derived from the forename Turlough, which is anglicized as Terry. The towns of Ballymacurley and Curleys Island are both located in County Roscommon where this widespread name is more often changed to Curley and Corley. The Turley 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 Turley descendants.