MCCORD
Recorded variant spellings include Mc Cord, Mccord
McCord is a surname of predominantly Gaelic origin, with a substantial presence in both Scotland and Northern Ireland. The original form in Gaelic is Mac Cuairt or Mac Cuarta, meaning "son of Cuairt", where Mac denotes "son of". The element Cuairt is believed to derive from the Old Norse word kort, signifying "short", and in some interpretations relates to a by‑name meaning "visitor" or "journeyman". The fusion of Gaelic patronymic construction with a Norse root reflects the historical intermingling of Gaelic peoples and Norse settlers in the British Isles.
During the early modern period, especially from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries, Norse settlers established themselves along the east coast of Scotland and the north coast of Ireland. In many cases, these settlers adopted Gaelic linguistic forms or had their Norse names adapted by the local Gaelic population. Consequently, the surname McCord is thought to trace back to Viking descendants who assimilated into the Celtic societies of the islands, with the name becoming anglicised in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The surname appears in a variety of spelling variants. Historical records document forms such as MacCourt, McCourt, McCoard, McCard, and even Courtenay or Courteney in some instances. Court rolls from County Cork in 1584 and Hearth Tax rolls from County Armagh in 1664 list the name as MacWoorth and MacQuorte respectively, illustrating the phonetic adaptation of the record‑keepers of the time. By the nineteenth century, additional spellings such as McCoard, McQuart and even McArt have been identified, a result of varying clerical practices and regional dialects.
Geographically, the surname McCord remains most common within Scotland and Northern Ireland, particularly in the province of Ulster. Within Ulster, the name has deep roots in the ancient territory of Oriel, corresponding largely to the modern counties of Armagh, Monaghan, and portions of Down, Louth and Fermanagh. The village of Cappagh near Dungannon in County Tyrone is named Ceapach Mhic Cuarta in Gaelic, denoting an outlying settlement of the Mac Cuarta sept. In the modern era, significant numbers of McCords are also found in England, the United Kingdom as a whole, and in former British colonies such as the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, owing to migration during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Notable bearers of the surname include Seamus MacCuarta (1647–1732), recorded variously as James MacCourt and James Courtenay, who was celebrated as "the greatest of the northern Gaelic poets". In more recent times, Thomas McCard, christened in London in 1751, and James McCourt, who departed from Newry in 1846 aboard the ship Brothers for New York, highlight the surname’s persistence during periods of social upheaval such as the Great Potato Famine.
Today, the McCord surname persists in both its traditional heartlands and a global diaspora. While a significant proportion of families trace their lineage to Scottish or Irish ancestors, the surname’s presence in North American states such as South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee reflects the pattern of emigration that characterised the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Contemporary bearers of the name retain a connection to their Gaelic heritage, evidenced by the enduring use of the patronymic prefix Mac and the historical meanings embedded in the root Cuairt.
Typical given names associated with the McCord surname
Male
- Andrew
- David
- Ian
- James
- John
- Michael
- Paul
- Robert
- Stephen
- Thomas
- William
Female
- Agnes
- Caroline
- Elizabeth
- Gail
- Kathleen
- Margaret
- Mary
- Michelle
- Nicola
- Sarah
- Sharon
- Susan
- Tamie
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname McCord in...
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Did you know?
According to a survey carried out by Democracy Club, politicians and candidates with the surname McCord are most likely to say that their favourite biscuit is a Ginger Nut.
There are approximately 783 people named McCord in the UK. That makes it roughly the 8,930th most common surname in Britain. Around 12 in a million people in Britain are named McCord.
Surname type: From name of parent
Origin: Celtic
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: Ireland
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: Gaelic
Famous people named McCord
- Jilly McCord - Rugby union player
- Ryan McCord - Scottish football player
- Mervyn McCord - (1929 to 2013)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.