Origin of the Name Hartnett
The origin of the name
Hartnett 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 Hartnett
include Harnett, O'Harney, Harney, Harknett, Harnedy, Hartnetty and Harnet. This name in Irish is O'hAirtneada and the latter variants are the anglicized forms of this. This sept came from Counties Cork , Kerry and Limerick .
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.
The name appears frequently in the ancient sixteenth century Fiants. The form Harnet is more usual in County Limerick with Hartnett found in County Cork . In each of these Counties, before the transfer of ownership of land from landlords to tenants, there were four large proprietors called Harnett. Harney is common to Tipperary and Waterford.
The Hartnett 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 Hartnett descendants.