From Mag Oirc, ‘son of Orc’ — the young boar, and the hereditary keepers of Colmcille's bell.
The Mcguirk certificate.
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Gaelic Origin · Root meaning ‘young boar’
McGuirk comes from Mag Oirc, ‘son of Orc’, orc being the young boar — an animal Gaelic Ireland associated with fierce courage rather than mere ferocity. The family were erenaghs of Termonmaguirk in the barony of Omagh, County Tyrone, of the Cenél Binnigh, and hereditary keepers of St Colmcille's bell.
They lost the church lands in 1624, after the Plantation — but the bell they guarded for centuries survives still, in a museum in Edinburgh.
Irish form: Mag Oirc
