The Maguire family were one of the most powerful Gaelic dynasties of Ulster, the ruling house of Fermanagh for more than three centuries and a name inseparable from the lakes, landscapes and history of that county. At the height of their power the Maguire chiefs commanded a territory of real strategic and economic importance in the west of Ulster, and they were counted among the foremost Gaelic lords of Ireland. The surname Maguire, with its variants McGuire and MacGuire, is found today across Ireland and throughout the Irish diaspora. Our McGuire and Maguire Irish family gifts collection carries the family crest in all three spellings.
Quick answer: Maguire is the anglicized Mag Uidhir, "son of Odhar," a personal name meaning dun-colored or pale. The Maguires ruled the lake country of the Erne from the late thirteenth century until the Plantation of Ulster, with Enniskillen Castle as their stronghold from the fifteenth century. Allies of the O'Neills and O'Donnells in the Nine Years' War, their chief Cú Chonnacht Maguire arranged the very ship of the Flight of the Earls; McGuire is the common diaspora spelling.
What Does the Maguire Name Mean?
The surname derives from the Irish Mag Uidhir, meaning "son of Odhar." Odhar is a color word for dun, pale or sallow, and as a personal name it described a man's coloring, the kind of descriptive name that was common in the early Gaelic world. Patrick Woulfe traces the family in the Irish annals back to the tenth century. The name reflects the Gaelic system of hereditary naming, in which a family identified itself through descent from a distinguished ancestor, and the anglicization into Maguire, McGuire and MacGuire followed the broader pattern of Irish surname change as English came to dominate administrative and legal life in Ireland from the sixteenth century onward. Mag is the form Mac takes before a vowel, which is why the Irish name is Mag Uidhir. All the spellings appear in historical records, with Maguire the form most closely tied to the historic chiefs and McGuire especially common in the diaspora.
What Was the Maguire Kingdom of Fermanagh?
The kingdom of Fermanagh, over which the Maguire dynasty presided, was a territory defined in large part by its geography. The county is dominated by two great lakes, Upper and Lower Lough Erne, which together with the rivers and waterways connecting them create a landscape of islands, peninsulas and shorelines that has shaped life in the region for millennia. This watery country gave Fermanagh a strong natural defense and made it a place of good grazing and fishing. The Maguires understood and used this geography with skill, and their control of the waterways was a key element of their power as Gaelic lords; the lakes were not a backdrop to the family's history but an active part of their political and military world.
Enniskillen Castle, on an island in the River Erne where the river connects the two loughs, is the landmark most closely associated with the Maguire family and one of the most historically important buildings in Ulster. It was built in the early fifteenth century by Hugh "the Hospitable" Maguire, who died in 1428, and the Annals of Ulster first mention it in 1439. The castle controlled the principal crossing of the Erne, and the Maguires held it as their chief stronghold until the end of their lordship. The building that survives today combines work of several periods and now houses the Fermanagh County Museum, but its association with the Maguire dynasty remains central to its identity.
How Did the Maguire Chiefs Rule Gaelic Fermanagh?
The Maguire chiefs became the dominant power in Fermanagh by the late thirteenth century. Donn Carrach Maguire, who died in 1302, was the first of the family to rule the entire county, and across the following three centuries his descendants held their position as one of the leading powers in western Ulster. Their rule was often contested, as the political world of Gaelic Ulster was one of constant competition between dynasties and between rival branches of the same family, but the Maguires showed a remarkable capacity for endurance across many generations. The Irish annals record a long line of Maguire rulers who were active in war, in diplomacy and in the patronage of the Church and of learning expected of great Gaelic lords.
That patronage supported a learned household around the chief. The Ó Caiside (Cassidy) family served as hereditary physicians to the Maguires, the Maguire lords kept bardic poets such as Eochaidh Ó hEódhusa, and a branch of the dynasty itself, the MacManus family descended from Maghnus son of Donn Maguire, held Belle Isle on Upper Lough Erne.
The Maguires' most significant alliance was with the O'Neill dynasty of Tyrone, the most powerful Gaelic ruling house in Ulster, bound to the Maguires by marriage, political alliance and a shared interest in resisting the spread of English authority. The O'Donnells of Donegal completed the triangle, and the three families, O'Neill, O'Donnell and Maguire, formed the core of Gaelic Ulster's resistance to Tudor power in the late sixteenth century.
What Happened to the Maguires in the Nine Years' War?
The Nine Years' War of 1593 to 1603 was the defining crisis of the Maguire dynasty and of Gaelic Ulster as a whole. It was the Maguires who opened it: Hugh Maguire, lord of Fermanagh from 1589, rose in 1593 against a crown sheriff who had entered Fermanagh with soldiers. Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Red Hugh O'Donnell soon led the confederacy that became the most sustained military challenge to English rule in Ireland since the Norman invasion, and Hugh Maguire was one of its most celebrated commanders. He fought at the great Gaelic victory of the Yellow Ford in 1598. In early 1600, campaigning in Munster, he was killed near Cork in a clash with Sir Warham St Leger, a heavy blow to the Gaelic cause that foreshadowed the defeat at Kinsale in 1601.
His half-brother Cú Chonnacht Óg Maguire succeeded him. After the war Cú Chonnacht raised money in the Spanish Netherlands, bought or chartered a ship and brought it from Dunkirk to Rathmullan on Lough Swilly. In September 1607 it carried him into exile with the earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell, an event remembered as the Flight of the Earls. He died of fever at Genoa in August 1608. The Flight ended the old Gaelic order in the north, and the Plantation of Ulster that followed brought settlers from Britain onto lands that had been held by Gaelic families for generations.
The McKenna family of County Monaghan were among the Ulster Gaelic families who shared the same political world as the Maguires, operating within the kingdom of Oriel and keeping their own connections to the O'Neill dynasty; their story is told in our history of the McKenna family of Truagh. The fuller stories of the Maguires' two great allies are told in our histories of the O'Neill family of Tyrone and the O'Donnell family of Tír Chonaill.
What Became of the Maguires After the Plantation?
Most of Fermanagh passed to English and Scottish settlers under the Plantation, though some Maguires kept part of their land and the family remained the natural leaders of Catholic Fermanagh. Conor Maguire, 2nd Baron of Enniskillen, was one of the organizers of the plan to seize Dublin Castle in October 1641. The plot was betrayed on the eve of the rising, he was found hiding in a cockloft near his lodging, and he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn in 1645. In the Williamite War, Cúchonnacht Mór Maguire of Tempo raised a regiment of foot for James II and was killed leading it at the Battle of Aughrim on 12 July 1691.
How Did the Maguire Name Spread Across the World?
The later history of the Maguire surname reflects the experience of many Gaelic Irish families in the centuries after the Plantation. Dispossessed of much of their ancestral land and excluded from political power under the Penal Laws, many Maguires adapted to the new conditions of Irish life, farming as tenants in the lakeland parishes, while others sought opportunities abroad. Within Ireland the name stayed strongest in Fermanagh and the neighboring counties of Cavan and Monaghan.
The Great Famine of the 1840s and the waves of emigration before and after it carried the Maguire and McGuire name to Britain, North America and Australia. The United States received the largest number, and the McGuire spelling in particular became well established in Irish-American communities across the Northeast and Midwest. For those tracing Maguire ancestry, the surviving parish registers of County Fermanagh, Griffith's Valuation, the 1901 and 1911 census returns and the civil registration records from 1864 are the essential starting tools.
Fun Facts About the Maguire Name
When the Flight of the Earls left Rathmullan in 1607, the ship itself had been arranged by a Maguire: Cú Chonnacht Maguire, lord of Fermanagh, brought the vessel from Dunkirk and sailed with the earls. Enniskillen Castle, the dynasty's island stronghold, now houses the Fermanagh County Museum, a Maguire fortress you can walk through today. The family's own cadet branch, the MacManuses of Belle Isle, took a separate surname from their ancestor Maghnus. And the Cassidys, one of Fermanagh's best-known names, served the Maguire lords for generations as their hereditary physicians.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Maguire Name
What nationality is the Maguire surname?
Maguire is Irish, the anglicized Mag Uidhir, the ruling dynasty of Fermanagh in Gaelic Ulster.
What does the Maguire name mean?
It means "son of Odhar," a descriptive personal name meaning dun-colored or pale.
Were the Maguires kings of Fermanagh?
Yes. The annals call the Maguire chiefs kings of Fermanagh. They ruled the lake country of the Erne from the late thirteenth century, with Enniskillen Castle as their stronghold from the fifteenth.
Where in Ireland are Maguires from?
County Fermanagh above all, where Maguire is still the most numerous surname, with strong numbers in Cavan and Monaghan.
Is it Maguire or McGuire?
Both are the same name. Maguire is the usual spelling in Ireland, while McGuire became especially common in Irish-American records.
For the name's full history and research guide, read our McGuire Irish surname history, and find the family crest on woven blankets, mugs and garden flags in our McGuire and Maguire Irish family gifts collection.