McCormick (surname)

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]