McDermott Family Crest, Coat of Arms & McDermott Name Origin

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Origin of the Name McDermott

The ancient history of the name McDermott was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. McDermott is a name meaning 'free man'. This Irish name descends from Tadhg O'Connor, who was King of Connacht before the Norman invasion. They divided into two septs, the most important of which is that of Coolavin, County Sligo, whose territory embraced much of County Roscommon. The other sept was to the North of this County, at Kilronan, and was called MacDermot Roe. The MacDermots are one of the few septs whose head is recognised as an authentic Chieftain. Outstanding people of the name are Brian MacDermott, 1592, owner of the famous manuscript 'The Annals of Loch Ce', and Martin MacDermott, 1834-1905, the 'Young Ireland er' and poet of the Nation. The name is rendered as MacDiarmada in Gaelic.