Origin of the Name Machan
The ancient history of the name
Machan 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 Machan
include Machon, Machin, Machen, Machent, Meachin, Meachen, Meachem, Meacham and Meecham. This is an occupational name for a 'stonemason', and also a Norman variant of 'Mason'. In Scotland families of the name gave their name to a tenement in the Vale of Clyde. This name is of Anglo-Celtic descent spreading to the countries of Ireland , Scotland and Wales in early times and is found in many mediaeval manuscripts throughout these countries. Examples of such are a Eva Machon who was recorded in the 'Poll Tax' of the West Riding of Yorkshire, England , in the year 1379 and a John Rypleye and Margaret Machyn who were married in Saint Michael Cornhill in the year 1558.
In Ireland this name and its variants were introduced into Ulster Province by settlers who arrived from England and Scotland , especially during the seventeenth century. It was the 'Plantations of Ireland ' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that marked the end of Gaelic supremacy in Ireland . While the influx of settlers in the wake of the earlier Anglo-Norman invasion of the twelfth century resulted in a full integration into Irish society of the new arrivals, the same never occurred with the Ulster Planters who maintained their own distinct identity.
The Machan 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 Machan descendants.