Origin of the Name Roberts
The ancient history of the name
Roberts was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. Meaning 'son of Robert', the name Roberts has a number of variants including Robertson and Robert. This Scottish Clan count their Chiefs from Duncan de Atholia, under whom they first appear as a clan in support of Robert the Bruce. The Robertsons of Struan are the oldest family in Scotland , being the sole remaining branch of the Royal House which occupied the throne of Scotland during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. From first to last the Clan is noted for its loyalty to the Stewarts. On the murder of James I at Perth, it was Robert, the Chief of Clann Donnachaidh, who captured his murderers, for which act he had many honours conferred on him by King James I's successor. To further commemorate this, father and son took the name of Robertson, which the Clan has since retained. Their territory at one time extended from the watershed of Rannoch Moor to the gates of Perth.
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 Roberts 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 Roberts descendants.