Origin of the Name Smart
The ancient history of the name
Smart was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. The name Smart is of nickname origin describing a clever, brisk, active person. Variants of this name include Smarte, Smartman, Smert and Smarts. This name is usually of Anglo-Saxon descent spreading to the Celtic countries of Ireland, Scotland and Wales in early times and is found in many mediaeval manuscripts throughout these countries. Examples of such are a Simon Smert of County Northumberland who was recorded in the 'Hundred Rolls', England, in the year 1273. A John Smart was recorded as having been baptised in Saint James, Clerkenwell, in the year 1651. In Scotland a William Smert was recorded as a tenant in Telny, in the Barony of Abirdoure, Fife, in the year 1376.
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 Smart 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 Smart descendants.