Clan McGrath

McGrath
Mac Craith
Parent houseDál gCais
CountryIreland
FoundedEarly 11th century
Current headBy sept Chief
Titles
  • Coarbs of Termonmagrath and Protectors of the Priory of Lough Derg 12th - 17th century
  • Ollamhs and Hereditary Poets to the O'Brien, Princes of Thomond 13th - 16th century

The McGrath (Irish: Mac Raith, commonly now Mac Craith) family is an Irish clan. The name is derived from the Gaelic Mac Craith, recorded in other written texts as Mag Craith, Mag Raith and Macraith, including the Annals of the Four Masters and the Annals of Ulster. McGrath is a surname of ancient Irish origin, and is borne by the descendants of a number of septs, each with a common origin in the Kingdom of Thomond, a kingdom that existed before the Norman invasion and was located in north Munster.[1]

Tradition states the McGraths are of Dál gCais ancestry, stemming from Cormac Cas, King of the Province of Munster in the 3rd century AD. The Irish surname Mac Craith is considered to be patronymic in origin, being a name derived from the first name of the original bearer. The prefix ‘Mac’ in Mac Craith, denotes ‘son of’ and is followed by the genitive form of Rath, a personal name meaning ‘good fortune’, or ‘grace’.[2] The final -c in Mac was subsequently carried across and prefixed to the personal name Rath.[3] According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the MacGraths were one of the chiefly families of the Dal gCais or Dalcassians who were a tribe of the Erainn who were the second wave of Celts to settle in Ireland between about 500 and 100 BC.[4]

As the native Irish language was replaced by English, so the spelling of the family name Mac Craith was transformed. The most widely used anglicised spelling of Mac Craith is McGrath. However other variants exist, including Magrath, McGraw, Macrae, Mcilrath, MacCrae, McCreagh, MacGraith, Megrath, MacReagh, MacCraw, McCreath, MacGrae, Makrayth, McKray. These are simply anglicised variations of the same name.[5]

  1. ^ The Possibility of A Common McGrath Origin by Michael F McGraw, 2005, Para.2
  2. ^ "EDIL - Irish Language Dictionary".
  3. ^ Muhr; Ó hAisibéil (2022). The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names of Ireland. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198803263.
  4. ^ Cairney, C. Thomas (1989). Clans and Families of Ireland and Scotland. Jefferson, North Carolina, United States, and London: McFarland & Company. pp. 61–69. ISBN 0899503624.
  5. ^ "Clan Macrae in Scotland". www.clan-macrae.org.uk.