
Origin of the Name Neilan
The origin of the name
Neilan was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. The Irish names Neilan and Neylan are derived from the Gaelic O'Niallain sept who were located at Ballyally near Ennis in County Clare.
A sept or clan is a collective term describing a group of persons whose immediate ancestors bore a common surname and inhabited the same territory. Irish septs and clans that are related often belong to even larger groups, sometimes called tribes.
When Gaelic names were anglicized during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries they were often changed to Anglo equivalents that sounded most like their original Gaelic name. Ancient records reveal that three of the name were listed as persons of importance in County Clare in the 'Composition Book of Connaught ' in the year 1585, though they are not described as Chiefs. In modern times bearers of these names are still mostly found in Connaught Province.
The Neilan coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all Neilan descendants.