Origin of the Name Halpin
The
Halpin 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 Halpin
include Hallpin, Halpen, Halpeny and Halfpenny. This name in Irish is O'hAilpin and the latter variants are the anglicized form of this. This sept came from County Monaghan.
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.
As well as the Monaghan sept there was also a sept of Halpin in Counties Limerick and Clare and by the sixteenth century most of the Halpins were from County Limerick with the Halpenys being from County Monaghan. Ancient records exist listing a John Halpeny as a Juror in North Meath in the year 1541. In the list of Irish Kern mustered for service under the King of England no less than fourteen, including the Captain, were Halpenys. MacAlpin is a Scottish variant of the name.
The Halpin 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 Halpin descendants.