Origin of the Name Tansey
The ancient history of the name
Tansey 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 Tansey
include MacTansey, Tansy, Tansley and Tanist. This name in Irish is rendered as both Mac An Tanaiste and O'Blioscain and the latter variants are the anglicized forms of this. This sept came from Sligo and Roscommon.
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.
The translation of this Gaelic name is 'heir presumptive'. The form Tanist is found as one of the principal Irish names in the Barony of Corren, County Sligo in the Census of 1659. The variant MacEtanestie is found in the Connaught Fiants of 1588. The principal location of the Tansey families in modern times is north County Roscommon.
The Tansey 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 Tansey descendants.