Giltenan History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• Ireland

Early Origins of the Giltenan family

Early History of the Giltenan family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Giltenan research. Another 92 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1318, 1802, 1863, 1877, 1916 and 1937 are included under the topic Early Giltenan History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Giltenan Spelling Variations

During the Middle Ages, a standardized literary language known by the general population of Ireland was a thing of fiction. When a person's name was recorded by one of the few literate scribes, it was up that particular scribe to decide how to spell an individual's name. So a person could have several spelling variations of his name recorded during a single lifetime. Research into the name Giltenan revealed many variations, including Shanahan, O'Shanahan, Shahan, Shannon, Gilshenan and many more.

Early Notables of the Giltenan family

Another 34 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Giltenan Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Giltenan family

Thousands of Irish left in their homeland in the 18th and 19th centuries to escape the religious and political discrimination they experienced primarily at the hands of the English, and in the search of a plot of land to call their own. These immigrants arrived at the eastern shores of North America, early on settling and breaking the land, and, later, building the bridges, canals, and railroads essential to the emerging nations of United States and Canada. Many others would toil for low wages in the dangerous factories of the day. Although there had been a steady migration of Irish to North America over these years, the greatest influx of Irish immigrants came to North America during the Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s. Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the Irish name Giltenan or a variant listed above: Charles Shannon, who arrived in America in 1742; James Shanahan, who was a laborer in St. John's, Newfoundland, in 1779; Bridget Shannon, who was on record in Massachusetts in 1813.