Origin of the Name Ferris
The
Ferris 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 Ferris
include DeFerrers, Farris, Farrissa, Farrissy and Farrisy. These names are derived from the Gaelic O'Fearghusa sept whose name was also anglicized as Fergus. This sept was from County Mayo.
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.
They were hereditary physicians to the O'Malleys and were located in the parish of Burrishoole in the year 1303. They were still considerable landowners in Burrishoole and Carra in the year 1635 with the document that records them there spelling their name as Farregish. A separate branch of the sept is found in North East Ulster . The town Carrickfergus in County Antrim is named after Fergus MacRoigh who was the 'Red Branch' hero of the Tain, he being the ancestor of several Irish septs.
The Ferris 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 Ferris descendants.