Origin of the Name Ewing
The ancient history of the name
Ewing 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 Ewing
include Ewen, McEwen, Ewings and Ewin. This name in Gaelic is MacEoghain and in mediaeval documents in Latin is recorded as Eugenes. This is an ancient baptismal name meaning 'son of Ewan' and is found in many mediaeval documents. A Ewain vicecomes de Scon was recorded as being a witness to King Malcolm's Charter to Scon in the year 1164. A Douenaldus Ewain is recorded at Dunpeldre in the year 1165.
Names were recorded in these ancient documents to make it easier for their overlords to collect taxes and to keep records of the population at any given time. When the overlords acquired land by either force or gifts from their rulers, they created charters of ownership for themselves and their vassals. It was by creating, maintaining and updating these reference books that they were able to maintain their authority and enforce laws.
The Ewings in Ireland are found in records since the seventeenth century. They are associated with Counties Donegal, Derry, Tyrone and Antrim. Many of the name are recorded in Wills and in the 1659 census an Alexander Ewing is recorded as one of the leading inhabitants of Letterkenny, County Donegal. In the eighteenth century the Ewings were publishers of note in Dublin .
The Ewing 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 Ewing descendants.