The Coffey family name originates from the name, O’Cobhthaigh. It is most commonly located in the southern area of County Cork in Ireland. The crest is a man riding a dolphin. The shield is green an it has three gold cups within it. There is also a white belt across the shield. The family motto is, “non providentia sed victoria.”
The family name Coffey originates in the southern part of County Cork in Ireland. In the mid 19th century many Irish Immigrants were being employed as police officers, firefighters and many other public service positions in the city. At the turn of the century 5 of 6 police officers were either Irish born or of Irish descent. 38 of the Union Regiments in the Civil War had the work Irish in it. That is multiple from every state in the union. Irish migrants into the Appalachian region which includes my family’s direct ancestors were predominately Baptist and Methodist, which still continues in our family today. All of this still has some application to the Coffey family even to this day. At least 6 generations back has been in some kind of public service whether that be military, police or other public services.
The gold stands for generosity and elevation of the mind. Green stands for hope, joy and loyalty in love. The fesse(line across the shield)represents readiness to serve the public. The dolphin represents swiftness, diligence, salvation, charity and love. I was not able to discover what the man riding the dolphin symbolizes. It may not be a symbol for anything but I am going to be doing more research into that.
The family motto is “non providentia sed victoria.” That is translated many different ways but the most common way is, “ no victory without foresight.” I think that means that without any foresight or preparing you will not have victory. Which ties in very easily to our family’s past and present. Most notably all the men of our family for the last four generations have been Boy Scouts. The Boy Scout motto is,” Be...