Mac Gormáin

Rev Patrick Woulfe

Irish Names and Surnames

1923

Mac GORMÁIN—IV—M'Gormane, M'Cormaine, MacGorman, Gorman, (O'Gorman); 'son of Gormán' (diminutive of gorm, blue); the name of a Leinster family who were formerly lords of Ui Bairche, in the barony of Slievemargy, in the south-east of the present Leix. Soon after the Anglo-Norman invasion, they were driven from this territory and settled, some in Monaghan, others in the barony of Ibrickan, in West Clare, where they became very numerous. The head of the Clare branch of the family was marshal of O'Brien's forces. Even before the end of the 16th century, the name had spread into the neighbouring counties of Galway, Tipperary and Limerick. O'Gorman has been adopted in modern times, but incorrectly, as the anglicised form by some of the name in Munster; but MacGorman, the more correct form, is still retained in the North.

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