Origin of the Name Devaney
The
Devaney 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 Devaney
include Devany, Devenney, Duvany, Donvany, Deveney and Devenny. This sept was from Ulster .
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.
Their sept names in Irish were O'Duibheannaigh and O'Duibheamhna, one being from County Down near Lough Neagh and the other being ancient Chiefs of Ui Breasail in County Armagh. Of this sept was the great Irish Catholic martyr Conor O'Devany, Bishop of Down and Connor from 1582-1612, whose capture, torture and execution are described in 'The Four Masters'. There was another minor sept of the name called O'Dubhanaigh seated in County Donegal. In modern times these names are most numerous in Counties Mayo and Leitrim.
The Devaney 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 Devaney descendants.