Origin of the Name McSorley
The origin of the name
McSorley 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 McSorley
include McSorely and McSorlie. This name in Gaelic is MacSomhairle and the latter variants are the anglicized forms of this. This sept was of Clan Cameron.
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.
These families originated in Scotland where it is recorded that Alexander M'Sommarrli was cited in 1355 to give evidence regarding the lands of Glassrie in Argyllshire, he being a Lamont of Monydrain in Glassrie, as some of the family used the name Macsorley. The lands of Donald Machorle in Argyll were in Ward in 1488. The MacSoirles of Letterfinlay in Lochaber, later called a sept of Clan Cameron, descended from Somerled, armiger to John of Yla, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles. The McSorleys were also of the Clan MacDonald and as such were among the first Gallowglass warrior families to settle in Ulster Province in Ireland, especially during the seventeenth century. In modern times their descendants can mostly be found in Counties Tyrone and Antrim.
The McSorley 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 McSorley descendants.