Warren Family Crest, Coat of Arms and Name History

Warren Surname Name Meaning, Origin, History, & Etymology
This Anglo-French-Teutonic surname Warren has four meanings or origin theories. First, this is a habitational last name meaning “at the warren”, denoting a person who resides in or near a warren, which was a privileged (or franchise) enclosure for game such as hares, rabbis, and partridges, known as a game preserve. Second, one author asserts the name is locational and derives from a place in Calais, Normandy, France called Guarenna or Varenna (or Garennes), from where this family came from, having come to the British Isle during William the Conqueror’s Norman Invasion of 1066 AD during medieval times. The village name meant “place on the sandy soil”, as the city was along a river, deriving from Gaulish elements. Third, this is a baptismal or patronymic meaning “the son of Warin”, a personal (first) name related to the Old French name Guardin, essentially the same origin story of the surname Fitz-Warine. Fourth, in some instances, this is an Anglicized version of the Irish or Gaelic surname Gaelic Ó Murnáin.

This name derives from the Middle Englush wareine, wareyne and Old French warenne. These words in turn derive from the Teutonic warian, which means to preserve, stop, hold, keep off, or guard.

The progenitor of this family was William de Warene or Warrena, who married Gundrada, a daughter of William the Conquero, received a grant of land in Sussex, Norolk, and Sussex, from whom the Earls of Warenne and Surrey descended. His chief seat before the Conquest was Bellencombre, a small town in Dieppe, Normandy, on the River Varenne.

One lineage story asserts that a Danish Knight named William Longue Epee, son of Rollo (a famous Viking ruler of Normandy who lived from 846-930 AD), and a descendant of the Scandinavians who invaded Normandy had several children, including a daughter named Gunnora. This daughter Gunnora married Richard, Duke of Normandy. She had a brother named Herfastus and he had a daughter who married Walter de. St. Martin, with whom she a son named William de Warrenne, Earl of Warren in Normandy.

Spelling Variations
Some spelling variants or names with similar etymologies include Wearren, Warran, Warrene, Warrin, and Warrenn. Similar foreign names include Vaeringr (Norse) and Warin (France).

Popularity & Geographic Distribution
The last name Warren ranks 166^th in popularity in the United Status as of the 2000 Census. The name ranks particularly high in the following three states: North Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi.

The surname Warren frequency/commonness ranks as follows in the British Isles: England (209^th), Scotland (610^th), Wales (209^th), Ireland (666^th) and Northern Ireland (779^th).

In England, it ranks highest in counties Devon, Essex, and Bedfordshire. In Scotland, the surname Warren ranks highest in Inverness-shire. In Wales, it ranks highest in county Glamorganshire. In Ireland, it ranks highest in Wexford. In Northern Ireland, it ranks highest in county Down.

The name is also present throughout the remainder English speaking world:  Canada (326^th), New Zealand (227^th), Australia (205^th), and South Africa (1,010^th).

The 1890 book Homes of Family Names by H.B. Guppy, states the following in regard to this surname: “This name is mostly confined to the southern half of England, more especially to Dorset and the south – western counties and to Cambridgeshire and the adjacent eastern counties. It thus possesses two principal homes, one in the west of England and the other in the east. It also occurs sporadically in Cheshire and Staffordshire. Six centuries ago the name, in one form or another, was frequent in the east of England. We learn from the Hundred Rolls that in those ancient times Warin was characteristic of Cambridgeshire, and that Warenne was very common in Norfolk, in both of which counties the name is still well represented. Warenne was then also very frequent in Lincolnshire, and was also represented in Sussex. The present east country Warrens possess the name, if not the blood, of the Norman family of de Warene, the members of which in the time of William the Conqueror received great possessions in the east of England in Sussex, Surrey, Suffolk, Norfolk, etc. Probably also the west country name of Warren has a similar origin, though it has been suggested that it may sometimes be a contraction of “warrener,” a keeper of a rabbit – warren, an improbable suggestion, since occupative names ending in “er,” as Tanner, Skinner, Barber, Tayler, etc., etc., are not subject to such abbreviations”.

Early Bearers of the Surname
The Hundred Rolls of 1273 AD, a census of Wales and England, known in Latin as Rotuli Hundredorum lists three bearers of this surname: Richard de Warenne (Norfolk), John de Warenne (York), and William de Warren (York). In Scotland, Reginald de Warenne granted a charter before 1231 to Laurence Oliphant of lands near Forgandenny. John Warren (or Waryng) was listed in the Register of the University of Oxford in 1512 AD. Early marriages involving this surname include William Waron to Alys Agno at St. Margaret’s Westminister in 1542 AD, and William Warren to Elizabeth Bullwack at St. Martin Orgar in London in 1544 AD. An early baptism involving this name was Mary, daughter of Rafe Warren, at Kensington Parish in 1583 AD. Sir John Borlase Warren of Stapleford, county Notts, was the great-great-great grandson of Sir Arnold Waring, knighted in 1632, who was the son of William Waring.

Warren Family Tree & Warren Genealogy

Warren of Lodge Park
The lineage of this branch of the Warren family tree begins with Major Abel Warren of Oliver Cromwell’s army who settled in Ireland and  obtained lands in Kilkenny. He married Mary, daughter of Samuel Price of Keenaugh, with whom he fathered three children: Edward, Abel, and Elizabeth. He died in 1667 and was succeeded by his eldest son Edward. Edward was an Esquire of Lowhill who had two sons: Abel (of Lowhill, married a woman named Elizabeth and had issue named Abel, John, William, Rebecca, and Elizabeth) and Edward. The younger son, Edward Warren, was an Esquire of Lodge, county Kilkenny, a Captain in the army, who married Isabella, daughter of Folliott Shrigley of Dublin, and he had  five issue with her: Sarah, Anna Maria, Elizabeth, Folliott (his heir), and Ebenezer (of Dublin, married Mary, daughter of Laurence Nowla, having issue named Ebenezer, Mary, and Isabella). His was succeeded by his eldest son, Folliott Warren of Lodge, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Samuel Shuldham of Ballymulvey, having three issue with her: Edward, Folliott, and Samuel. He was succeeded by his son Edward of Lodge Park. In 1791, he married his cousin, Elizabeth, daughter of Pooley Shuldham of Ballymullvey, and died in 1816, leaving a son and heir with her named Pooley. This Pooley Abel Warren was an Esquire of Lodge Park, who in April of 1828, married Jessy Anne, daughter of Thomas VBryan, and had two issue with her: Edward Lewis and Lucy Florence. His son Edward Lewis Warren, Esquire of Lodge Park, county Kilkenny, was a Justice of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenant, and High Sheriff in 1861 who was born in 1830. In 1857, he married Marianne Emily, daughter of Colonel Charles Garraway, and had the following issue with her: Edward George Shuldham (1860), Emily Zoe, Lucy Jessy, and Helen Anne. This family was seated at Lodge Park, Freshford, county Kilkenny, Ireland.

Warren of Ballydonarea and Killiney
This branch of the family claims descent from the Warren of Poyton. The Warren genealogy here begins with Robert Warren of Carson, county Monaghan, Ireland, who was the son of Humphrey Warren and Susanna Davenport. He married Margaret, daughter of Thomas Wilkinson of Ballydonarea, county Wicklow, and died in 1748, having left two sons: John and James (married a member of the Bourke family, Viscounts of Mayo and had issue named Peter, Robert, Eliza, Catherine, and Margaret). The eldest son John Warren was an Esquire of Ballydonarea, county Wicklow, was born in 1719. In 1747, he married Susanna, daughter of Martin Horrish of Corballis, and had five sons and three daughters with her: William, Robert, Peter, John, William, Elizabeth, Eleanor (married W. Whitton), and Susannah. He secondly married Mary, daughter of Thomas Gates of Great Connell, and had issue with her as follows: Thomas, Francis William (married Anne Caldbeck), Ralph (served in the Royal Navy), William, John (married Miss E.R. Chamney), and Sarah. His successor was Robert Warren, Esquire of Ballydonarea and Examiner of the Court of Chancery, born in 1752. In 1781, he married Barbara, daughter of Joseph Swan, Esquire of Tombrean, and with her had issue named John, Robert, Joseph St. Lawrence, Thomas, Barbara (married Sandham Symes of Dominic Street, Dublin, Ireland), Catherine, Susanna (married Richard McNally), Margaret, Ellen (married R. Dowse), and Mary (married W. Goodman, Esq.) He was succeeded by his second son Robert. Robert was an Esquire of Ballydonarea, county Wicklow and Killiney Castle, county Dublin, who was born in 1787. In 1819, he married Alicia, daughter of Athansius Cusack of Laragh, and had issue with her: Robert, Graves Swan (married Sarah Davis), Reverend Samuel Percival ), Athanasius Cusack, James William, John Thomas, Edward George, and Anna Martha. His son Robert Warren was an Esquire of Ballydonarea in county Wicklow, Annaghmore, county Cork, and Killiney, county Dublin. He was a Barrister-at-Law, High Sheriff, Justice of the Peace, and Deputy Lieutenant who was born in 1820. In 1846, he married Anne Elizabeth, daughter of Cadwallader Waddy of Kilmacow of Wexford. The Warren Coat of Arms (sometimes erroneously called the Warren Family Crest) is blazoned in heraldry as follows: Chequy or and azure, on a canton ermine a trefoil vert. Crest: On a chapeau gules turned up ermine a wyvern argent, wings expanded chequy and azure, on the breast a trefoil vert. Motto: Be just and fear not.

Baronet Warren
The lineage begins with Robert Warren, an officer in the Army who was seated at Kennagh, East Carbery, Cork, Ireland who died in 1662. He had three sons and three daughters with his wife Margery, the youngest son was Wallis Warren, who in 1688, purchased the Kilbarry (now called Warren’s Court). In 1684, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Knolles, who had two sons and two daughters. His eldest son and heir was Robert Warren of Kilbarry, Cork. This Robert married Anne, sister of William Crooke, and had two daughters and two sons with her. His younger son was William, who married Dorcas, sister of William Perry. He died in 1743 and was succeeded by his elder son, Sir Robert Warren, 1^st Baronet, of Warren’s Court and Crookstown House, county Cork, who was born in 1723 and created a Baronet of Ireland in July in 1784. In 1748, he married Mary, daughter of Augustus Carre, and had five daughters and sons with her. His sons were Sir Augustus Louis Carre, 2^nd Baronet, William (of Llsgoold, married Margaret Gordon, had daughter named Anna Maria who married Hugh Lawton), and Thomas (of Monkstown, Cork, a Member of Parliament for Chaleville, married Anne Townsend and had four sons and three daugheters with her). Sir Augustus George Digby Warren, 7^th Baronet, of Warren’s Court, county Cork, Ireland was born in 1898 and educated at Harrow and R.M.C. He was a Major in the 17^th and 21^st Lancers and a Lieutenant in the 7^th Hussars who served in World War I and World War II. He succeeded his father in 1914. He was the son of Augustus Riversdale John Blennerhasset Warren, 6^th Baronet, Agnes Georgina Ievers. The Warren Coat of Arms (often mistakenly called the Warren Family Crest) is blazoned in heraldry as follows: Argent, a fess chequy or and azure, between three talbots passant proper. Crest: A lion rampant holding a crozier. Motto: Non mihi sed Deo et regi.

Other Warren Pedigree & Family Trees
The first known ancestor of the Warren family recorded to history was a man named Rotrou de Nogent, known as Seigneur de Nogent, who was born in France around 935 AD. The following is a pedigree from him:
Fulcois de Nogent, also known as comte de Montage (Montagne, Bourgogne, Fracne around 965 AD)
Hugues de Perch, also known as comte de Gatinals (born in Gatinals, France around 974 AD)
Geiffrey II, Ferréol/Hammer/Seigneur de Château-Landon, Comte de Gâtinais (Chateau Landon cir 1000)
Foulques, Fulk IV, le Rechin (Anjour, Rhode Alpes, around 1043 AD)
Fulk or Foulques V, Count of Anjou, King of Jerusalem (Anjou, France, 1092 AD)
Geoffrey V, Plantagenet, Comte d’Anjou, The Fair (Anjou around 1113 AD)
Hamelin, Vicomte de Touraine, 5^th Earl of Surrey, de Warenne, born 1130 AD in Anjor, Rhone-Alpes France, came to Sussex, England. He was eminent in the courts of King Henry II, Richard I, and John of England.
William de Warenne, 6^th Earl of Surrey (born in Lewes, Sussex, England in 1166 AD)
Sir John de Warenne, 7^th Earl of Surrey (born in Warren, Sussex around 1231 AD)
William de Warenne (Warren, Sussex, 1256 AD)
John de Warenne, Earl of Warenne, Surrey and Strathearn (born in Sussex in 1286 AD)
Sir Edward de Warenne (Poynton, Chesire, born in 1313)
Sir John de Warrenne or Warren (Poynton, England around 1343)
Sir Nicholas de Warenne (Cheshire, England, 1373 AD)
Sir Laurence Warren (Poynton, 1394)
Sir John Warren, Baron of Stockport (Poynton, Cheshire, 1414)
Sir Lawrence Warren, Baton of Stockport (Poynton, Macclesfield, Cheshire around 1435)
Baton John Warren of Poynton and Stockport (1453 in Wiston, Nayland, Suffolk)
The last mentioned John married Eleanor Gerard and had issue with her as follows: Lawrence, Nicholas, Ralph, Jerome, John, Thomas, and Helen.

James Warren was born in St. George Spotsylvania, Virginia in 1690. He married Elizabeth Hedgeman and (or?) Elizabeth Lewis and had the following issue: Samuel, Elizabeth, John, Grace, and Hadman. His son John Copper Warren was born in Saint Annes Parish, Albemarle, Virginia around 1725. He married Susannah Christian Warren and had had the following issue with her: Benjamin, Burris, Charles, Eleanor, Burris, and John. His son Burris Sr. was born in Amherst County, VA in 1752. He in turn had a son, also named Burris who was born in the same county in 1769. This Burris had a son named Thomas. This Thomas Warren was born in 1799 in Kentucky. He had a son named Samuel M. Warren who was born in Pulaski, Kentucky in 1840. He in turn had a son, also named Samuel, who was born in Lobleville, Tennesse in 1870. He had a son named Sammie O. Warren Sr. who was born around 1910. He had a daughter named Anita.

Early American and New World Settlers
Richard Warren, a merchant of London came to New England aboard the Mayflower in 1620. He later brought his wife (Elizabeth Walker) and dive daughters, and had two sons while living in colonial America.
Elizabeth Warren, age 17, came to the Barbados aboard the Alexander in May 1635.
Joseph Warren, age 27, came to Virginia aboard the Plaine Joan in May 1635.
Edward Warren, age 28, came to St. Christopher’s aboard the Mathew of London in May 1635.
Henry Warren, age 15, came to Virginia aboard the Thomas & John in June 1635.
Joseph Warren, age 19, came to Bermuda aboard the Truelove in June 1635.
Joseph Warren, age 18, came to Virginia aboard the Assurance in July 1635.
John Warren, age 20, came to St. Christopher’s aboard the Amitie in October 1635.
Nicholas Warren was a prisoner who was sent to the Barbados in 1685. George Warren of Milverton was also a Prisoner sent to the Barbados.
Ann, wife of Joseph Warren, was buried at St. Michael’s Parish in Barbados in December 1678.

Other early settlers in colonial America bearing this surname include Abigail and Anna Warren (Plymouth, MA 1623), Garrett Warren (Virginia 1711), John Warren (Georgia 1735), Charles Warren and (Virginia 1765).

In Canada, one of the earliest bearers of this last name was Robert Warren or Wattin who came to St. John’s, Newfoundland in 1669. In Australia, one of the first settlers with this name was Henry Warren, a convict from Essex, Engand who came aboard the Ann in 1839,  settling in New South Wales (then a penal colony). In New Zealand, John Warren came to the city of Auckland in 1840.

Early Americans Bearing the Warren Family Crest
Charles Bolton’s American Armory (1927) contains three entries for this surname:

1) Gules a lion ramp or a chief chequy or and az. Crest: a demi-griffin. Bookplate Dr. John C[ollins] Warren, Boston (H. C. 1797), and Dr. J[ohn] Collins Warren [H. C. 1863] same plate, shield against a rock; also bookplate of Dr. J[ohn] Mason Warren, whose seal (crest and shield) is 5/16 in. high. The seal of Dr. John Warren, founder Harvard Med. Sch., gold and carnelian, is 13/16 in. high and still used. Also bookplate Sullivan Warren. Also on cover of “Reminiscences of My Life” by Annie C. Warren, 1910.
2) Gules a lion ramp argent a chief chequy argent and gules. Crest: a griffin’s head couped. Bookplate George Washington Warren. Also Lucius Henry Warren. Also engraved on a tall teapot. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from Dr. Buckminster Brown.
3) Quarterly per fess indented or and gules. Crest: a wyvern. Quarterly per fess indented or and gu. Crest: a wyvern.

Crozier’s General Armory (1904) contains seven entries for this name:
1) John Warren of Massachusetts, 1640, from Poynton, Devonshire, England. Gules, a lion rampant argent: a chief chequy or and azure. Crest: A demi-eagle displayed. Motto: Virtus mihi scutum.
2) William Warren of Boston, 1715. Gules a lion rampant crowned sable. Crest: On a mound very two doves billing proper.
3) Arthur Warren on Weymouth, Massachusetts, 1638. Chequy or and azure on a canton gules a lion rampant argent. Crest: On a chapeau gules turned up ermine a wyvern argemtn wings expanded chequy or and azure. Motto: Tenedo.
4) Richard Warren of Plymouth, 1620, from London, England. Gules, a lion rampant argent a chied chequy or and azure. Crest: Out of a ducal coronet a demi-wivern wings expanded.
5) Ebenezer Burgess Warren, Esquire of Philadelphia. He bore the same arms as Arthur of Weymouth discussed above.
6) George Thornton Warren, Esqurire, New York. He bore the same arms as Richard of Plymouth discussed above
7) Charles Elliot Warren, New York. He bore the same arms as Richard of Plymouth discussed above.
Matthew’s American Armoury (1907) and Bluebook contains two entries for this name:
1) Charles Warren Elliot of New York City was born in Brooklyn in 1864. He was a Major and Ordnance Officer and a Inspector of Small Arms for 5^th Brigade. In 1892, he married Anna M. Geissenhainer and had three issue with her:  George William (born 1899), Susanne Elizabeth, and Margaret Resslear. He bore the following arms: Gules, a lion rampant argent, a chief chequy or and azure. Crest: Out of a ducal coronet a demi-eagle displayed. Motto: Pro patria mori. He was the son of George William Warren, Professor at Columbia University and a descendant of Richard Warren, a signer of the Mayflower Compact in 1620, who was the son of Christopher Warren of Headbury, England. He was a direct descendant of William de Warrenne, 1^st Earl of Warren and Surrey.
2) Arthur Warren of Weymouth, MA, 1638. Arms: Chequy or and azure, on a canton gules a lion rampant argent. Crest: On a chapeau gules, turned up ermine, a wyvern argent wings expanded, chequy or and azure.

Mottoes
I have identified twelve Warren family mottoes:
1) Leo de Juda est robur nostrum (The Lion of Judah is our strength)
2) Tenebo (I will hold safe)
3) Sublimiora spectemus (Let us regard loftier things)
4) Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci (He had gained every point who has mixed the useful with the agreeable) (Warren of Shipperton)
5) Virtus mihi scutum (Virtue is to me a shield)
6) Non aspera terrent (Difficulties don’t dismay us)
7) Non mihi sed Deo et regi (Not for myself but for God and the king)
8) Be just and fear not
9) Fortuna sequatar (Let fortune be attendant)
10) Mos virtute se tollit ad auras (Soon he will raise himself by his valour to the empyrean)
11) Cutte ut vincas (Run that you may conquer)
12) Pro patria mori (Die for your country)

Grantees
We have 60 coats of arms for the Warren surname depicted here. These two blazons are from Bernard Burke’s book The General Armory of England, Ireland, and Scotland, which was published in 1848. The bottom of this page contains the blazons, and in many instances contains some historical, geographical, and genealogical about where coat of arms was found and who bore it. People with this last name that bore an Warren Coat of Arms (or mistakenly called the Family Crest)
1) Rear-Admiral Sir Peter Warren, 1747, Arms by Ulster King of Arms, Supporters 1747
2) Sir George Warren, K.B. 1761
3) Susann Warren, daughter and heiress of William of Stallingthorne, parish of Huntstahm, 20 May 1700
4) Richard Warren of Shepperton, county Middlesex, and Forest of Dean, county Gloucester, 28 September or 31 October 1776
5) Warren to Horne, Edmund Thomas, of county Derby, 1784
6) Rear-Admital Sir John Borlase Warren, of Stapleford, county Nottingham, Arms and suppkement, 7 May 1802
7) Warren before Bulkeley, 20 September 1802, Thomas (James) Lord Bulkeley, of county Chester, and Wales, Quarterly Arms, 1802.
8) Warren to Sandys, county Cornwall, Match, 1817
9) Warren of Ottery St. Mary, county Devon, Eschutheon of pretense for Hicks, 1823-1924
10) late Leicester, 18 February 1832, George Fleming, 2^nd Baronet de Tabley, 1832
11) late Venables-Vernon, 14 October 1837, George John, 5^th Baron Vernon, of county Chester, 1837
12) Warren after Corbould (William?), of county Norfolk, England, 1853
13) Warren (Borlase) before Venables, of county Warwick (W.J.V Borlase-Warren-Venables-Vernon) 1856
14) Reverend Samuel Warren, Rector of All Souls’, Amcoats, Manchester, 1859
15) to Warren-Swettenham, Robert, of county Chester, England, 1879

Notables
There are literally thousands of notable people with the Warren surname. This page will mention a handful. Famous people with this last name include: 1) Adam Parrish Warren (1987) who is an American professional baseball pitcher born in Birmingham, Alabama, who has played for the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs, 2) Andrew Marvin Warren (1967) who is an American spy and CIA operative from Chesapeake, Virginia, 3) General Sir Charles Warren (1840-1927) who was an officer in the British Royal Engineers, born in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales who was an archaeologist in the Biblical Holy Land, and was the head of the London Metropolitan Police during the Jack the Ripper murders, and served in the Second Boer War, 4) Earl Warren (1891-1974) who was the 30^th Governor of California from 1943-1953) and the 14^th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953-1969, known for outlawing segregation in public schools, 5) Edward Allen Warren (1818-1875) who was a U.S. House of Representatives from Arkansas, 6) Elizabeth Ann Warren (1949) who became a United States Senator from Massachusetts in 2013, 7) William Fairfield Warren (1833-1929) who was the first president of Boston University, having been born in Williamsburg, MA, 8) Sir Samuel Warren (1769-1839) who was an officer of the Royal Navy born in Sandwich, Kent, England who served in the American War of Independence and Napoleonic Wars, 9) Richard Duane “Rick” Warren (1954) who is an American evangelical Christian pastor and author born in San Jose, California who founded Saddleback Church and is known for his best-selling book The Purpose Driven Life, and 10) Nancy Warren (1921-2001) who was a pitcher and infielder who played for six different teams from 1946-1954, having been born in Springfield, Ohio.

Blazons & Genealogy Notes