McCormick (surname)

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McCormick
Origin
Meaning"son of Cormac'"
Region of originIreland
Other names
Variant form(s)Cormack, MacCormack, McCormack, McCormick, MacCormick, Cormac, Cormach, Cormich, Cormiche, Cormack, Cormick
[1]

McCormick is a family name that originated in Ireland, Munster[2] and later Scotland from the Irish given name. Spelling variations: Cormack, MacCormack, McCormack, McCormick, MacCormick, Carmack, Cormac, Cormach, Cormich and Cormiche. It comes from the first name of the original bearer. A person whose father was named Cormac would identify as Mc (i.e. "son of") Cormac; the combination was continued as the family name by subsequent generations.

Cormac is translated literally as "Charioteer, Warrior" in old Irish. The name was a very popular choice of names by parents in medieval times: this was due to the influences of the Saint of the same name. Saint Cormac Cormac mac Cuilennáin was the first Bishop of Cashel, an important diocese in the south of Ireland. Cashel was also the King of Munster and responsible for a famous book of Psalms, the Cashel Psalter, he died in battle in AD 908. See also earlier Irish saint Cormac of Armagh. In those days the McCormack was the name of a powerful Sept (Clan or Family) in the county of Longford,[citation needed] Cormac mac Airt, a semi-historical Irish high king who ruled from Tara ca. 227–266 AD. Cormac, son of Cabhsan, was the first chieftain to be called Cormack, and, of course, MacCormack came later as a direct descendant, Mac or Mc signifying the 'son of'.

In 1576, 1598 and 1600, MacCormicks are recorded as leading gentry in County Cork[3] and one, of Muskerry, was influential enough to raise a large force to assist Desmond in the Elizabethan wars. The Annals of the Four Masters record the deaths of several prominent MacCormicks of County Fermanagh; the last of these died in 1431.

Another possible derivation of the name is that it comes from the Gaelic Mac Cormaic which comes from corb and mac meaning "Ravenson".[4]

Mac, Mc prefix[edit]

Scottish and Irish patronymic surnames frequently have the prefix Mac or Mc. When these surnames were originally developed, they were formed by adding the Gaelic word, mac, which means son of, to the name of the original bearer's father, or to the father's trade.

Business[edit]

Education[edit]

  • Bruce H. McCormick (1928–2007), US professor of computer science at Texas A&M University
  • Charles T. McCormick (1889–1963), US professor of law and dean at The University of Texas, the University of North Carolina, and Northwestern University
  • John McCormick (born 1954), professor of political science at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
  • Marie McCormick, the Sumner and Esther Feldberg Professor of Maternal and Child Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
  • Richard L. McCormick (born 1947), US professor and university administrator at Rutgers University and the University of Washington
  • Samuel McCormick (1858–1928), US professor and administrator of the University of Pittsburgh
  • Robert J. McCormick (1948–2014), US professor of psychology, Italian, Spanish, and departmental chair of child advocacy at Montclair State University

Entertainment[edit]

Fiction[edit]

Law[edit]

Navy[edit]

  • Lynde D. McCormick (1895–1956), Four-Star Admiral, Commander in Chief of the United States Atlantic Fleet, First supreme allied commander of all NATO forces in the Atlantic
  • Robert McCormick (explorer) (1800–1890), British Royal Navy surgeon, explorer and naturalist

Politics[edit]

Sports[edit]

Other[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Surname Database: McCormick Last Name Origin". The Internet Surname Database.
  2. ^ "McCormack Name Meaning, Family History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms". January 2000.
  3. ^ Robert Bell, Book of Ulster Surnames (Blackstaff Press/October 1989 ISBN 0-85640-416-0
  4. ^ "Mccormick Name Meaning & Mccormick Family History at Ancestry.com". www.ancestry.com.