The Lennon family of Liverpool is descended from the O'Leannain's of Western Ireland.

Tracing the genealogy of Irish families has become exceedingly difficult, due to a fire in 1922 in which records for 1821 to 1851 were wiped out. Sadly, records for 1861 to 1871 were destroyed by Government order. However, there is a clue to the Lennon heritage in the Irish Lennon family crest.

The use of a stag as an icon can be seen in Irish art and ancient stone carvings across four millennia. The stag symbolises chieftaincy, fertility and the sun. A browsing stag also denotes contentment, lack of concern and a beast that is secure in its power. In the ancient Celtic world the stag was ruler of the animal kingdom. Its use in a family crest indicates the family was descended from ancient Irish stock and were acknowledged as leaders in the community, educators, nobility or priests. This is reflected in the Lennon family motto 'Prisco Stripe Hibernice' which translates as 'Of Ancient Irish Stock'.

For the ancient Irish Celts the stag was depicted as a guide for people journeying from this world to the other world. That is, from this life to the next. Its usage in the crest provides more evidence that people bearing the Lennon name were spiritual guides, or priests.

The stag is portrayed on a hilltop, again suggesting nobility or chieftainship. Logically, the background to the scene would be a blue sky, but the crest shows the sky as white. White has been used from ancient times to denote purity, again suggesting spiritual leadership and nobility.

The name Lennon is an anglicised version of O'Leannain, which in Irish Gaelic means 'love'. Love, for the early Celts as much as for people today, was acknowledged as the most potent of all human emotions.

The family tree shows five successive generations of Lennons, all of whom made at least part of their living through music. John Lennon sang professionally in pubs in Ireland in the first half of the nineteenth century. John's son Jack joined a minstrel group that toured in America in the late 1800's. Jack's son Alfred ran away from an orphanage to join a children's music hall troupe in the 1920's and later entertained his shipmates in the merchant navy with his impersonations of famous singers. Alfred's son John formed The Beatles and his son Julian carries the musical tradition into the twenty-first century.