Mortimer Family Crest, Coat of Arms & Mortimer Name Origin

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Origin of the Name Mortimer

The origin of the name Mortimer was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. The name Mortimer is usually of Anglo-Norman origin and is derived from the site of the Cistercian Abbaye de Mortemer in Normandy and from the village of Mortemer in the Seine-Maritime area. The Mortimers of the fourteenth century were powerful families centered around Wigmore Castle in Herefordshire. Ranulph de Mortimer (1070-1104), was the founder of the English House of Mortimer of Wigmore. He was the son of a Norman Baron who had assumed the name Mortimer after taking possession of the lands of that name in France . Edmund Mortimer (1376-1409), later had a claim to the English crown and plotted with Henry Hotspur Percy to depose King Henry IV of England , but perished at Harlech Castle. In Ireland this name and its variants were introduced into Ulster Province by settlers from England and Scotland , especially during the seventeenth century. Mortimer is on record in County Meath since 1382. The Gaelic names McMurty and Mortagh are used as occasional variants of the name Mortimer.