Heraldry and the Gearty Surname

Gearty is best understood together with Geraghty: both are Irish spellings of one family name. Surname dictionaries give the meaning as “Son of Oireachtach (assembly member)”. Gearty is listed among the recognised spellings of Geraghty. Spellings drifted because names were written down by ear in parish books, tax rolls and passenger lists. Related forms: Geraty, Gerety and Gerraughty.

In the 2010 US Census, 289 Americans gave Gearty as their last name (rank 68,122). It sits within the 100,000 most common last names in the country.

Arms linked to Geraghty and its spellings were granted to individual families; our heraldry team traces which line they belonged to. For the full story, order the Gearty surname pack.