Origin of the Name Skeen
The ancient history of the name
Skeen 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 Skeen
include Skeene, Sceen and Skene. This great Scottish family took their name from the lands of Skene in the Earldom of Mar, which they held from the thirteenth century to the year 1827. In 1318, King Robert I, by charter of Robert Skene of that ilk, made the lands and Lock of Skene a Barony. In 1513, Alexander Skene fell at Flodden. A branch of the family of Skene, of Curriehill, were celebrated lawyers. Sir John Skene of Curriehill was a prominent advocate in the reign of James VI. In 1594 he was appointed Lord Clerk Register and issued a collection of the Scots Acts of Parliament. His son, Sir James Skene, succeeded the Earl of Melrose as President of the Court of session in 1626. Skene of Hallyards and Pillens is the only branch of the family which retains lands in Scotland.
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 Skeen 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 Skeen descendants.