In Ireland surnames first came into being in the early part of the eleventh century. Brian Boru, the then High King, proclaimed that all of Ireland's 150 septs, with territorial claims, be formally identified by a discernable name. Names of noteworthy ancestors were for most septs an acceptable way of identifying themselves. The surname McCartan owes its origin to the Gaelic Mac Artán which translates 'son of Artán '. The annals record that Artán died in 1004. An early Irish pedigree deposited in the National Library of Ireland traces the line further back in time to Rudricus Magnus, the tenth King of Ulster at Emain Macha (Navan Fort).