MCCORMACK
Recorded variant spellings include Mc Cormack, Mccormack
McCormack is a surname of Gaelic origin that is predominantly found in the British Isles, especially Ireland.
The name is derived from the Gaelic patronymic Mac Cormaic, which literally means “son of Cormac.” The personal name Cormac itself is composed of the elements corb, meaning “raven,” and mac, meaning “son.” Consequently, the ancestral bearer of the name may have been associated with the raven either as an emblem or as a moniker inherited from an ancestor.
Variations of the surname include MacCormac, MacCormack, McCormack, McCormick and Cormack. While the form McCormack is most common in contemporary Ireland, the other spellings appear in records from Scotland and northern Ireland. The surname is far more frequent in County Clare and County Limerick, yet it is also well documented in Ulster and in parts of Scotland.
Historical references to the name date back at least to the early thirteenth century. The earliest recorded spelling is that of Gillecrist MacCormaic in the Book of Deer, a manuscript dated 1132 and produced during the reign of King David I of Scotland (1124‑1153). Subsequent medieval entries include Gilbert McCormoc in the “Acts of the Lords of Council in Civil Causes” for Scotland (1478‑1495), Gilbert M'Cormac of Barley (1696), and the marriage of Elizabeth McCormack to William Ritchie in Cupar, Fife (12 April 1849).
In a broader Celtic context, surnames such as McCormack were almost invariably patronymic and often arose from an original nickname denoting a prominent ancestor. While the specific deeds of these early clan founders have largely been lost to history, the very survival of the name attests to a lineage that has persisted through the turbulent centuries of the British Isles.
Typical given names associated with the McCormack surname
Male
- David
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Patrick
- Paul
- Peter
- Thomas
- William
Female
- Anne
- Catherine
- Elizabeth
- Helen
- Karen
- Margaret
- Mary
- Patricia
- Sarah
- 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 McCormack in...
Braille
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Morse
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Semaphore
Did you know?
According to a survey carried out by Democracy Club, politicians and candidates with the surname McCormack are most likely to say that their favourite biscuit is a Rainbow cookie.
There are approximately 12,950 people named McCormack in the UK. That makes it the 695th most common surname in Britain. Around 199 in a million people in Britain are named McCormack.
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 McCormack
- Catherine McCormack - Actress
- Ross McCormack - Scottish football player
- Eric McCormack - Canadian-American actor, producer, and writer
- John McCormack - Irish tenor (1884 to 1945)
- Danny McCormack - Musician
- Pat McCormack - Boxer
- Luke McCormack - Boxer
- Colin McCormack - Actor (1941 to 2004)
- Una McCormack - Author
- Darren McCormack - Scottish football player
- John McCormack - Scottish football player and manager
- John McCormack - Scottish boxer (1935 to 2014)
- Conor McCormack - Irish football player
- Inez McCormack - Irish trade unionist (1943 to 2013)
- Eric McCormack - Novelist, academic
- Roy McCormack - Scottish football player
- Pete McCormack - Canadian film director and screenwriter
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.