Origin of the Name Muldowney
The ancient history of the name
Muldowney was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives.
Over the centuries Surnames developed a wide number of variants. Different spellings of the same name can be traced back to an original root. Additionally when a bearer of a name emigrated it was not uncommon that their original name would be incorrectly transcribed in the record books at their new location. Surnames were also often altered over the years based on how they sounded phonetically and depending on the prevailing political conditions it may have been advantageous to change a name from one language to another.
Variants of the name Muldowney
include Downey, MacDowney, Gildowney and MacGilldowney. This name is derived from the Gaelic O'Maoldomhnaigh sept that was located 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. Irish septs and clans that are related often belong to even larger groups, sometimes called tribes.
This name translates from the Gaelic as meaning 'servant of the Church'. This name was often abbreviated as Downey, which is also a distinct name derived from the Gaelic O'Dunadhaigh sept that was located in Counties Galway and Kerry . This name is taken from a Gaelic word for a fort. In modern times Muldowney is still mostly found in the northern Counties.
The Muldowney coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all Muldowney descendants.