MCGEEVER
Recorded variant spellings include Mc Geever, Mcgeever
McGeever is a surname that originates from the British Isles, with its roots firmly planted in Ireland. The name is derived from the Gaelic patronymic Mac Iomhair, which translates literally as “son of Iomhair.”
The personal name Iomhair itself is believed to stem from the Old Norse personal name Ivarr, which means “bow warrior” or “archer.” Thus the surname McGeever carries an implicit link to the tradition of archery and suggests that the earliest bearers of the name may have been associated with this martial skill or with the Norse culture that had once prospered on the island.
In the northern region of Donegal the surname appears as a variant of Mac Ivor or MacIver. The latter form is a synonym of MacKeever, which in turn is an anglicised rendering of the Gaelic Mac Iomhair. This lineage was especially common in the medieval territory of Oriel, which comprised the modern counties of Armagh, Monaghan and parts of South Down, Louth and Fermanagh. Some families who abandoned the Irish orthography, becoming part of the ascendancy, anglicised the surname as Ivers or Howard.
The first recorded spelling of the family name is that of Neile MacKeever, who served as secretary to Shane O’Neill in a document dated 1567, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The name also appears in nineteenth‑century migration records: on 8 December 1846 a labourer named Andrew McGeever, aged thirty, left Liverpool aboard the ship Sea, taking his wife Katherine (age thirty‑six) and little children Mary and Frederick (aged two and one) for New York. Later that century, on 25 May 1865, a daughter of Michael and Mary McGeever was baptised at Kunkineely in Donegal.
Throughout its history the surname McGeever has remained predominantly associated with Ireland, and its bearers have typically identified with the Christian faith. The name’s close ties to Gaelic and Norse heritage reflect the complex cultural tapestry of the Irish‑speaking world, while its continued use in the British Isles underscores the enduring legacy of Celtic patronymics in modern surnames.
Typical given names associated with the McGeever surname
Male
- Andrew
- Anthony
- Charles
- David
- Hugh
- James
- John
- Kevin
- Michael
- Patrick
- Paul
- Thomas
Female
- Ann
- Anne
- Caroline
- Elizabeth
- Janice
- Julie
- Kerry
- Louise
- Margaret
- Marion
- Mary
- Maureen
- Patricia
- Sharon
- Susan
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 McGeever in...
Braille
⠍⠉⠛⠑⠑⠧⠑⠗
Morse
---.-.--......-..-.
Semaphore
There are approximately 676 people named McGeever in the UK. That makes it roughly the 9,949th most common surname in Britain. Around ten in a million people in Britain are named McGeever.
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 McGeever
- Ryan McGeever - Football player
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.