MCSORLEY
Recorded variant spellings include Mc Sorley, Mcsorley
McSorley is a surname of Gaelic Irish origin. It is a patronymic name that incorporates the element Mac, which in Gaelic means “son of,” and the personal byname Somhairle, which has been anglicised as Sorley. Thus the surname literally denotes son of Sorley.
The personal name Somhairle can be traced back to the Old Norse Sumarlithr, a compound of sumar (summer) and lithr (warrior or mariner). In the early medieval period, this name was adopted into Gaelic as Somhairle and later abbreviated to Sorley in English records.
Records of the patronymic appear in the early 13th century. The earliest documented instance is that of Ranal Mac Somhairle, Lord of Argyle, dated 1211 in the Records of Scottish Invasions into County Derry during the reign of King William the Lion (1165‑1214). Another early example is Alexander M'Sommarrli listed in Glassrie, Ayrshire in 1355, a name associated with the Lamont clan who used the form Mac Sorley for successive generations.
The name spread across both Ireland and Scotland. In Scotland, branches of the Mac Sorleys served as a sept of Clan Cameron in Lochaber and as a notable galloglass family within Clan MacDonald in Ulster. In Ireland, the surname is chiefly found in the counties of Tyrone and Antrim, with some families originally situated on the ancient O’Connor lands in Connacht.
In the modern era, the surname has a widespread presence. According to the 1881 British Census, McSorley ranked 254th in popularity in England and Wales. In the 2000 United States Census it appeared as the 3452nd most common surname. Irish diaspora communities now carry the name in large numbers in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with particular concentrations in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Florida, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Variant spellings and cognate forms of the name that share the same origin include McSorly, Sorley, O’Sorley, Shorley and Mac Shorley. Some older records also reference the forms Mac Suibhlethain and Mac Swarley, which stem from the same Gaelic root and carry similar patronymic meanings.
In summary, the McSorley surname reflects a lineage that began as a Gaelic patronymic derived from a Norse personal name. Its historical ties to both Irish and Scottish clans, coupled with the extensive emigration of the 19th and 20th centuries, have ensured its presence across the Anglophone world today.
Typical given names associated with the McSorley surname
Male
- Daniel
- David
- James
- John
- Kevin
- Michael
- Patrick
- Paul
- Thomas
- William
Female
- Amanda
- Catherine
- Elizabeth
- Helen
- Julie
- Karen
- Kathleen
- Lucinda
- Margaret
- Mary
- Nicola
- Patricia
- Pauline
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 McSorley in...
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There are approximately 1,566 people named McSorley in the UK. That makes it roughly the 5,179th most common surname in Britain. Around 24 in a million people in Britain are named McSorley.
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 McSorley
- Eilish McSorley - Scottish football player
- Jade McSorley - Model
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.