Origin of the Name Hearne
The origin of the name
Hearne 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 Hearne
include Hern, Hirn, Hearn, Ahern, Aherne and O'Heffron. These names are derived from the Gaelic O'hEachthigheirn sept.
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.
These families were originally a Dalcassian sept and up to the middle of the fourteenth century they were dynasts of Ui Cearnaigh, their territory being in the area of Sixmile Bridge, County Clare, not far from the city of Limerick . In the course of time they migrated Southwards and in 1659, when the Petty Census was taken, the name was numerous throughout Counties Cork and Waterford. At the present time the name is mostly confined to Counties Cork and Limerick .
The Hearne 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 Hearne descendants.