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McGuire, Maguire and MacGuire all come from Mag Uidhir, the family that ruled Fermanagh and the lakes of the Erne from the late thirteenth century until the Flight of the Earls. The family crest on the Irish National Tartan comes here on woven blankets, mugs, garden flags, ornaments, coasters and tees for every branch of the name.
McGuire, Maguire and MacGuire are anglicized forms of the Gaelic Mag Uidhir, "son of Odhar," from a personal name meaning dun-colored or pale. Mag is the form Mac takes before a vowel in Irish. Maguire is the usual spelling in Ireland, McGuire is the common American form, and MacGuire keeps the full Mac; this collection carries all three.
The Maguires were the ruling family of County Fermanagh from the late thirteenth century until the Plantation of Ulster, lords of the islands and shores of Lough Erne. Hugh "the Hospitable" Maguire built their castle at Enniskillen by the 1420s. Hugh Maguire, lord from 1589, opened the Nine Years' War in 1593 and was killed near Cork in 1600, and his half-brother Cú Chonnacht Maguire arranged the ship that carried the earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell into exile in 1607. Maguire is still the most numerous surname in Fermanagh.
The range brings the family crest on the Irish National Tartan to woven cotton blankets in all three spellings, a printed tartan throw, accent mugs, garden flags including the House of MacGuire design, a ceramic ornament and a silver-tone framed ornament, cork coasters and a novelty license plate, along with McGuire crest tees and a Maguire Celtic harp tee.
Follow the Maguire lords of Fermanagh from Lough Erne to 1607 in our McGuire Irish surname history.
