Origin of the Name O'Halloran
The origin of the name
O'Halloran 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 O'Halloran
include Halloran, O'Holleran and Holleran. The O'Hallorans had two distinct septs.
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 Galway sept had their territory near Lough Corrib and retained their leading position in Iar-Connacht up until the end of the sixteenth century. The Clare sept were located in Ogonneloe, beside Lough Derg and they were of the same origin as the MacNamaras of Thomond. This sept produced most of the notable bearers of the name. Sylvester O'Halloran, 1728-1807, was a surgeon, historian, antiquary and Irish language enthusiast, and his brother Rev. Joseph Ignatius O'Halloran, S.J. 1718-1800, was professor of Philosophy at Bordeaux. The descendants of both septs are today numerous in Counties Clare and Galway . The variant Holleran is mostly found in Counties Mayo and Galway .
The O'Halloran 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 O'Halloran descendants.