Origin of the Name Flatley
The ancient history of the name
Flatley was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. The names Flatley and Flattery are derived from the Gaelic O'Flaitre and O'Flaitile septs that were located in Counties Sligo and Offaly respectively. The Offaly sept were of the Hy Fiachrach. In the Census of 1659 they were recorded as being one of the principal Irish names in the baronies of King's County, Offaly. The earliest form of this Gaelic sept name was O'Flaithfhileadh, meaning 'prince poet'.
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.
When Gaelic names were anglicized during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries they were often changed to Anglo equivalents that sounded most like their original Gaelic name. In modern times these names are often associated with County Galway .
The Flatley 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 Flatley descendants.