Coat of Arms & Family Crests Store
 Jackson Coat of Arms / Jackson Family CrestJACKSON was a baptismal name 'the son of John' from the popular nickname Jake. This surname, one of the twenty five commonest in England, was brought to Ireland by numerous settlers but principally in the 17th Century to Ulster. Over one half of the Jacksons in Ireland are to be found in that province with the largest part of the remainder in and around the cities of Dublin and Cork. When the sparse Irish population began to increase it became necessary to broaden the base of personal identification by moving from single names to a more definite nomenclature. The prefix MAC was given to the father's christian name, or O to that of a grandfather or even earlier ancestor. The names introduced into Britain by the Normans during and in the wake of the Invasion of 1066, are nearly all territorial in origin. The followers of William the Conqueror were a pretty mixed lot, and while some of them brought the names of their castles and villages in Normandy with them, many were adventurers of different nationalities attached to William's standard by the hope of plunder, and possessing no family or territorial names of their own. Those of them who acquired lands in England were called by their manors, while others took the name of the offices they held or the military titles given to them, and sometimes, a younger son of a Norman landowner, on receiving a grant of land in his new home dropped his paternal name and adopted that of his newly acquired property. At first the coat of arms was a practical matter which served a function on the battlefield and in tournaments. With his helmet covering his face and armour encasing the knight from head to foot, the only means of identification for his followers, was the insignia painted on his shield and embroidered on his surcoat, the draped and flowing garment worn over the armour. The associated arms are recorded in Sir Bernard Burkes General Armory. Ulster King of Arms 1884. Ireland was one of the earliest counties to evolve a system of hereditary surnames, some of which came into being in 1000. |
