Origin of the Name MacNamara
The origin of the name
MacNamara was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. The name McNamara is derived from the Gaelic Mac Conmara which translates as 'son of the hound of the sea'. There were two septs of this Irish name.
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.
One held the Chiefdom of Clancullen West and was called McNamara Fion. The other, McNamara Reagh, was Chief of East Clancullen. Their titles were taken from them by the invaders who drove them to seek outlets in Europe and the New World. The records of Clare are full of the history of the McNamaras. Among other notable acts, they founded the Franciscan Abbey of Quin in the year 1402. The McNamaras were great builders and created fiftyseven castles, fortresses and abbeys in County Clare, one being the famous Bunratty Castle.
The MacNamara 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 MacNamara descendants.