Origin of the Name Fitzgibbon
The ancient history of the name
Fitzgibbon 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 Fitzgibbon
include Gibbons and Fitzgibbons. In considering this surname in Ireland , it must first be mentioned that this is a very common indigenous name in England and in the course of the several plantations of English settlers in this country from 1600 onwards the name has become widespread. The native families of the present day are to be found concentrated in the very parts of the country in which they originated. The most numerous are those of County Mayo, the ancestors of these were first known as MacGibbon Burke, they being a branch of the great Norman Irish sept of Burke in County Mayo. The sept name that was assumed by this originally Norman family was Mac Giobuin. A well known bearer of the family name was John Fitzgibbon, 1749-1802, who was the Lord Chancellor of Ireland .
The Fitzgibbon 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 Fitzgibbon descendants.