Origin of the Name Gleason
The
Gleason 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 Gleason
include Gleeson, O'Glissane, Glissane, Leeson and Lishane. These variants are the anglicized forms of the Irish name O'Glesain. In spite of its English appearance Gleason is a genuine Irish Gaelic name. They belong to the Aradh, their territory being Mac Ui Bhriain, Aradh's country, in County Tipperary between Nenagh and Lough Derg. They were of the same stock as the O'Donegans, of the Barony of Ara, County Tipperary, who were originally of Muskerry, County Cork . Before the sixteenth century they held extensive lands in County Tipperary but lost most of these during the Cromwellian Regime. Today they are still numerous in their home County but are not found in great numbers outside of Munster . The forms Leeson and Lishane appear in the Ormond Manuscripts as early as the year 1644 but in modern times are rarely found outside Dublin .
The Gleason 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 Gleason descendants.