Origin of the Name Munro
The ancient history of the name
Munro 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 Munro
include Monroe and Monro. The earliest recorded Chief of the name by charter was in Scotland he being Robert de Munro, 1341-1372. He was succeeded by his brother, Hector, who had two sons and a daughter. The eldest, Sir Robert, was the Colonel of two Dutch regiments. He died leaving no male issue, so the estate went to his brother who was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1634. He married Mary, daughter of Hugh MacKay of Farre. On his death he was succeeded by his only son, Sir Hector, who died without issue, so the title went to his cousin, Robert, the third Baronet.
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.
This name is also an anglicized form of the native Gaelic Mac an Rothaich sept, often anglicized as O'Mellans and Milroy.
The Munro 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 Munro descendants.