Origin of the Name Madden
The origin of the name
Madden 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 Madden
include Maden, Madigan, O'Madden, McAvaddy and Madeen. This Irish sept was a branch of the Hy Many, whose territory was in County Galway . Their Chief was Lord of that territory and after the Anglo-Norman invasion retained his Lordship under the De Burgos. In modern times the Maddens are still numerous in that area. In the heyday of landlordism, prior to the Land Acts, the Madden Estates, principally in Mayo, Leitrim and Fermanagh, comprised some 25,000 acres. A Madden family of English origin is also found in Ireland and they settled in Leinster , giving their name to the village of Maddenton in County Kildare.
The Madden 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 Madden descendants.