Family Motto: Cruce spes mea.
Translated: My hope is in the cross.

Le Brid: Means "the bird." It is thought this is because of the singing propensities of the original bearer of the name. The family is first found in Chesire in England prior to the Norman conquest of 1066. It was during the Battle of Hastings that Hugo Le Brid aligned himself with William the Conqueror in his successful quest to overthrow the ruling house of Britain. The Birds (the English version of the name) became well connected and wealthy people following the Norman invasion. Variations of the name include: Bird, Byrd, Byrde, as well as others.

Suggested readings for the name Byrd "A Byrd Family History" by Robert Earl Byrd, "The Bird-Byrd Family" by Al Byrd.

The Byrd family is descended from some of the most powerful and influential peoples of the world. Their lines have been traced back into the royal families of Britain, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Egypt, and even ancient Babylon. Our lines have already been traced back to beyond what seems possible, with connections to ancient people we have only read about. However, it is important to realize that once you link a family into a royal house, most of the genealogical research has already been done. The royal lineages are very convoluted as the male members of royal families often had several wives, concubines, and mistresses.

Our Byrd family has linked to most of Europe and many parts of the Mideast, areas we now consider political hotbeds. I am still examining all of the material I have found on ongreatfamily.com and will be compiling a complete report once I have had a chance to finish my research.

The White Family Irish Coat of Arms contains a Chevron shield, which represents the roof of a house and signifies protection and faithful service. The wavy lines on the Chevron represent Earth and land. Also on the Chevron are three red roses, which represent hope and joy and are also the symbol for a seventh son. This probably means that the person who commissioned the coat of arms was the seventh son in his family. Above the Chevron is a helmet that represents wise defense. From the history of the White surname to the right, we learn that the Whites were Irish knights.

The colors of the coat of arms each have special meaning also. Green is the sign of hope, loyalty, and love. White or silver means sincerity and peace. Gold represents generosity, and red signifies a warrior, martyr, and military strength.

Interesting Tidbit: The name White in Ireland was brought to the country by settlers in the 14th century. The Gaelic form of the name is de Faoite; however, the use of the words "ban" and "geal" (both of which translate as "white") has led to a number of anglicized versions of the Gaelic name, including Bann, Bawn, Kilbane, Bannane and Galligan. The name is now among the fifty most frequently found in Ireland.

White, Whyte: "The white" or of fair complexion. Also: Dweller on the white side of a tree or valley. Here is a history of the White family name that I found. I do not know who wrote it or from whence it originated.

The White name is general is one of the most common surnames in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. In England its most common origin is as a descriptive nickname for someone who was fair-haired or pale, and a sizeable proportion of those bearing the name in Ireland will be of English extraction; such families were prominent in Clare, Waterford and Kilkenny.

In some cases, as families were absorbed by Gaelic culture, White was phonetically hibernicized Mac Faoite. After the final collapse of the Gaelic order in the seventeenth century this was re-anglicised as MacWhitty and MacQuitty, as well as the original White.

In the north of Ireland, many Whites are of Scottish extraction. The surname was a semi-translation of the Highland Gaelic Mac Gille Bhain, ‘son of the fair-haired servant or youth’, and was also adopted by many of the MacGregors and Lamonts when they were outlawed and their own names proscribed. Elsewhere in Ireland White was sometimes used locally for many Irish originals containing, or thought to contain the elements ban (‘white’) or fionn (‘fair’).

A significant portion but not all of the White's can trace there history back to the Fitzgerald's and the royal linage of Nesta Rhy. (early settlers in MA, VT)

Fitzgerald is a Norman name, made up of Fi(t)z, Norman French for ‘son of’, and Gerald, a personal name of Germanic origin from geri, ‘spear’ and wald, ‘rule’. Also (Mac Gearailt) called collectively the "Geraldines."

The family trace their origin to Walter FitzOther, keeper of Windsor forest in the late eleventh century, whose son Gerald was constable of Pembroke Castle in Wales. His wife was Nest, daughter of Rhys Ap Tewdwyr, King of South Wales. Gerald flourished in the early part of the twelfth century.

His son, Maurice Fitzgerald, ancestor of the Irish FitzGeralds, was one of the allies of Strongbow, the leader and organizer of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. Maurice received grants of land in several parts of Ireland, and his descendants were, among the most powerful of Norman families in Ireland, and members of this family often filled high offices in Ireland under the English Crown. Over the following eight centuries the family became one of the most powerful and numerous in Ireland.

The head of the main branch, the Duke of Leinster, known historically as the Earl of Kildare, is the foremost peer of Ireland. The Leinster branch of the family held for many centuries the Earldom of Kilare.

A branch of the Fitzgeralds, the Barrons (Barun) of Burnchurch, County Kilkenny, assumed the surname of Barron from their title in those parts, and remain a highly respectable family in that area and Waterford.

The MacMorises (Mac Muiris) or Fitzmaurices were a branch of the Geraldines who became lords of Lixnaw in County Kerry, and became famous for their resistance to the English invaders of the sixteenth century.

The Munster branch held the Earldom of Desmond, and in 1333 the then Earl Palatine of Desmond created three hereditary knights, which still survive: the White Knight (now Fitzgibbon and White), the Knight of Kerry, and the Knight of Glin. The White Knight was the head of the MacGibbons (Mac Giobuin) or Fitzgibbons line. Descend from Gilbert de Clare, who about 1300 possessed the manor or Mahoonagh and other valuable estates in southeastern County Limerick. This branch of the family settled in County Cork, where they were chiefs of a territory known as Clangibbon. Two other Knights were sons of a John Fitzgerald. The two lineal male descendants and heirs of these two brothers are still known respectively as the Knight of Glin and the Knight of Kerry. The power of the Munster branch, the Earls of Desmond, was severely disrupted in the wars of the sixteenth century.

The surname is now common, but remains concentrated in the ancient homeland of the Earls of Desmond, counties Cork, Limerick and Kerry.

According to research, the Fitzgerald's white Coat of Arms contains “An ermine shield with a red saltire, and three red annulets on a silver chief.” The Crest is “A red boar charged with three silver annulets.”