Origin of the Name Rowan
The
Rowan family history 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 Rowan
include O'Rowan, O'Ruan, Ruan, Rouine, O'Rogan, Rogan and Ruane. These Gaelic families were a Sept of the Ui Maine, in Irish O'Ruadhain, whose modern representatives are numerous in the Ui Maine country of east Galway . In north Connacht the name is found as part of a Ui Fiachrach Sept located around the parish of Robeen, County Mayo, and is still found there as Ruane, on records from the year 1840. In the 'Annals of Loch Ce' the name was anglicized as Rowan, Ruane, and Roughan. The variant O'Rwan occurs frequently in the Fiants relating to Counties Clare, Cork , Wicklow, Kildare, and Leix. Some Rowans were a branch of the O'Morchoe sept, as witnessed in a pardon that was granted in the year 1584. Today the name is found in all the Provinces, the majority being found in Ulster .
The Rowan 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 Rowan descendants.