Silliphant History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• Ireland

Etymology of Silliphant

All Irish surnames have a long, ancient Gaelic history behind them. The original Gaelic form of the name Silliphant is Ó Suileabhain, which is partially derived from the word "suil," which means "eye." The surname probably means either one-eyed or hawk-eyed.

Early Origins of the Silliphant family

Early History of the Silliphant family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Silliphant research. Another 81 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1641 and 1921 are included under the topic Early Silliphant History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Silliphant Spelling Variations

The recording of names in Ireland in the Middle Ages was an inconsistent endeavor at best. The many regional dialects and the predominate illiteracy would have made common surnames appear unrelated to the scribes of the period. Research into the name Silliphant revealed spelling variations, including Sylliphant, Silliphant, Syliphant, Siliphant and others.

Early Notables of the Silliphant family

• Silliphant of Devon

Migration of the Silliphant family

In the late 18th century, Irish families began emigrating to North America in the search of a plot of land to call their own. This pattern of emigration grew steadily until the 1840s when the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s cause thousands of Irish to flee the death and disease that accompanied the disaster. Those that made it alive to the shores of the United States and British North America (later to become Canada) were, however, instrumental in the development of those two powerful nations. Many of these Irish immigrants proudly bore the name of Silliphant: D. Siliphant landed in America in 1840.