Origin of the Name Roche
The origin of the name
Roche 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 Roche
include Roach and Rochfort. This name may be regarded today as totally Irish . It originated in France as de la Roche, meaning 'of the rock', and came to Ireland with the Anglo-Norman invasion in the twelfth century. This Sept are particularly associated with County Cork where they were a powerful family. There is a large area around Fermoy which has long been known as Roche's Country. The head of this family is Baron Fermoy. The placename Rochestown occurs in Counties Wexford, Cork , Kilkenny, Limerick , Tipperary, Kildare, Meath, Westmeath and Dublin . In the mediaeval period the name was often written de Rupe. In the same way de Rupefort is equivalent to Rochfort, the name of a Hiber-Norman family whose association with Westmeath is perpetuated in the village of Rochfortbridge.
The Roche 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 Roche descendants.