Heraldry and the O'Scanlon Surname

It is easy to miss O'Scanlon in an index if you only search for Scanlon. Read literally, O'Scanlon points to “Descendant of Scannlán”. With its O' prefix, O'Scanlon keeps Scanlon intact and marks belonging in the older style. Spellings drifted because names were written down by ear in parish books, tax rolls and passenger lists. Other spellings include Scanlan, Scanian and Scallan.

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