Origin of the Name Hickey
The origin of the name
Hickey 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 Hickey
include O'Hickey. Meaning 'physician' or 'healer', the Hickeys are of Irish Dalcassian origin, being physicians to the ruling O'Briens of Thomond and were closely associated with Counties Clare and Tipperary. Through time they spread to Counties Limerick , Clare and Tipperary and it is there that they are mostly found today. Father Michael Patrick O'Hickey, 1861-1916, was champion of Irish in the National University of Ireland . Another distinguished Hickey was the Franciscan professor Anthony Hickey, 1641, of Saint Isidores, Rome and Louvian. John Hickey, 1756, was a famous sculptor and his brother Thomas Hickey was a painter of renown.
The Hickey 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 Hickey descendants.