Shind History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• Ireland

Etymology of Shind

All Irish surnames have a unique and often romantic meaning. The name Shind originally appeared in Gaelic as Mac Seain, which translates as son of John.

Early Origins of the Shind family

Early History of the Shind family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Shind research. Another 97 words (7 lines of text) covering the year 1750 is included under the topic Early Shind History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Shind Spelling Variations

Scribes and church officials, lacking today's standardized spelling rules, recorded names by how they were pronounced. This imprecise guide often led to the misleading result of one person's name being recorded under several different spellings. Numerous spelling variations of the surname Shind are preserved in documents of the family history. The various spellings of the name that were found include McShane, McShain, McShaen, MacShane, MacShain, MacShaen, MacCheyne, McCheyne, McSheyne, MacSheyne, McCheine, McChain, MacCheine, MacChain, McChein, McShaney, McShanie and many more.

Early Notables of the Shind family

More information is included under the topic Early Shind Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Shind family

In the 18th and 19th centuries, thousands of Irish families fled an Ireland that was forcibly held through by England through its imperialistic policies. A large portion of these families crossed the Atlantic to the shores of North America. The fate of these families depended on when they immigrated and the political allegiances they showed after they arrived. Settlers that arrived before the American War of Independence may have moved north to Canada at the war's conclusion as United Empire Loyalists. Such Loyalists were granted land along the St. Lawrence River and the Niagara Peninsula. Those that fought for the revolution occasionally gained the land that the fleeing Loyalist vacated. After this period, free land and an agrarian lifestyle were not so easy to come by in the East. So when seemingly innumerable Irish immigrants arrived during the Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s, free land for all was out of the question. These settlers were instead put to work building railroads, coal mines, bridges, and canals. Whenever they came, Irish settlers made an inestimable contribution to the building of the New World. Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the Irish name Shind or a variant listed above, including: John and Joseph McShain settled in Philadelphia in 1860.