Rafferty Coat of Arms
Robhartaigh and O'Raithbheartaigh.
O'Robhartaigh comes from the gaelic word 'robhartha'
meaning 'a flood tide',
where we can presume the fish on the arms come from.
O'Raithbheartaigh comes
from 'rath' and 'bheartach' meaning 'prosperity wielder'.
The modern form of the name in Irish is
O'Raithbheartaigh. They were corabs (i.e
hereditary stewarts of church lands, of St Columcille in
Tory Island, Co Donegal. In Co. Sligo the family was one
of several pillars of
Skreen). There was an abbot of Durrow of the name
mentioned by the Four Masters. There are twenty entries
for the name O Raverty
in the Co. Armagh Hearth Money rolls of 1663.
Over the course of the 18th-century it is estimated that
more than 400,000
people emigrated from Ulster, the vast majority to North
America. In 1790 the US population of Irish stock has
been estimated at 447,000,
two thirds of them originating from Ulster.
The Rafferty name is now found scattered throughout the
country but
predominantly in Ulster, particularly in the counties of
Donegal and Sligo. Roarty is a variant of the name found
mainly in Donegal.
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