surnames.ie

Irish surname · 57th most common in 1911

McCormack

Also spelt McCormick, MacCormack

McCormack and McCormick come from the Irish and Scottish Gaelic Mac Cormaic, 'son of Cormac', after one of the most popular early Irish personal names. Woulfe found it common in every part of Ireland, borne by many unrelated families, and some Irish McCormacks descend instead from Ó Cormaic or Ó Cormacáin.

Irish Mac CormaicIrish Ó CormaicIrish Ó Cormacáin
1901 census
9,619
#63 · 22 per 10,000
1911 census
9,913
#57 · 23 per 10,000
1926 census
6,365
#81 · 22 per 10,000
Most numerous
Antrim
Highest share: Westmeath

Language & meaning

Meaning & Irish forms

Gaelic (Irish & Scottish) Gaelic: a patronymic formed independently by many families in Ireland and in Gaelic Scotland, with some Irish McCormacks descended from Ó Cormaic or Ó Cormacáin.[1][2][3][4]

Mac Cormaic
“son of Cormac”[1][5][3]
The usual source of McCormack, McCormick and MacCormack. The Gaois dataset pairs Mac Cormaic with both McCormack and McCormick, and Wiktionary notes that it is a Scottish Gaelic as well as an Irish surname.
Ó Cormaic
“descendant of Cormac”[6]
Usually Cormack or Cormick, borne by several distinct families in Derry, Cork, Clare and Down.
Ó Cormacáin
“descendant of Cormacán”[2]
From a diminutive of Cormac. Woulfe says it was often shortened to Ó Cormaic and in many places concealed under the English form MacCormack.

The name is built on the personal name Cormac, usually explained as “probably 'charioteer', from corb 'chariot' and mac 'son'”. Woulfe glosses Cormac as 'son of Corb' or 'son of a chariot, charioteer', and Wiktionary derives it from Old Irish corb, 'chariot', plus mac. Wikipedia says the first element is not certain; the meaning 'raven' found in baby-name books has no clear support.[6][3][7]

Pronunciation

McCormack: muh-KOR-mak (McCormick: muh-KOR-mik)

Place

Where the McCormacks lived

How common the name was in each county, as a share of the population, in the three surviving full censuses of Ireland. Use the buttons to compare years.

Donegal: 22.4 per 10,000 (378 people) Waterford: 3.6 per 10,000 (30 people) Dublin: 19.3 per 10,000 (929 people) Kilkenny: 7.1 per 10,000 (53 people) Carlow: 16.5 per 10,000 (60 people) Limerick: 17.7 per 10,000 (253 people) Louth: 30.3 per 10,000 (191 people) Tipperary: 27.7 per 10,000 (423 people) Roscommon: 46 per 10,000 (432 people) Meath: 39.7 per 10,000 (259 people) Wicklow: 7.4 per 10,000 (45 people) Cavan: 27.4 per 10,000 (250 people) Cork: 2.8 per 10,000 (109 people) Clare: 21.4 per 10,000 (224 people) Galway: 12.4 per 10,000 (227 people) Mayo: 12.3 per 10,000 (236 people) Sligo: 29.9 per 10,000 (237 people) Leitrim: 12.4 per 10,000 (78 people) Offaly: 35 per 10,000 (199 people) Laois: 21.9 per 10,000 (120 people) Kildare: 23 per 10,000 (154 people) Kerry: 2.4 per 10,000 (39 people) Monaghan: 13.4 per 10,000 (96 people) Wexford: 9.6 per 10,000 (98 people) Longford: 109.1 per 10,000 (478 people) Westmeath: 120.4 per 10,000 (725 people) Tyrone: 26.3 per 10,000 (375 people) Antrim: 34 per 10,000 (1,626 people) Armagh: 17.4 per 10,000 (208 people) Fermanagh: 24.4 per 10,000 (148 people) Londonderry: 20.7 per 10,000 (290 people) Down: 30.8 per 10,000 (943 people)
fewerup to 144 per 10,000

Share of each county's census population. 1926 covers the 26 counties of the Irish Free State only.

Highest concentration · 1911

Westmeath

120 per 10,000

725 McCormacks · 5.33× the national share

Highest share, 1911

  1. Westmeath 120
  2. Longford 109
  3. Roscommon 46
  4. Meath 40
  5. Offaly 35
  6. Antrim 34
  7. Down 31
  8. Louth 30

Per 10,000 residents. A concentration index above 1 means the name was commoner there than nationally.

County figures as a table
County190119111926Per 10k 1901Per 10k 1911Per 10k 1926
Antrim1,5441,626—3434—
Armagh177208—1417—
Carlow426047111714
Cavan250250192262723
Clare234224209212122
Cork84109116233
Donegal392378328232222
Down911943—3231—
Dublin8059291,054181921
Fermanagh155148—2424—
Galway273227181141211
Kerry533924322
Kildare132154207222336
Kilkenny45531046715
Laois89120120162223
Leitrim80785212129
Limerick275253220191816
Londonderry287290—2021—
Longford46247844299109111
Louth194191200303032
Mayo196236250101215
Meath282259303404049
Monaghan1079686141313
Offaly217199161363531
Roscommon496432392494647
Sligo223237207283029
Tipperary375423450232832
Tyrone433375—2926—
Waterford183034244
Westmeath671725814108120144
Wexford809811481012
Wicklow3745586710

Local strongholds in 1911

District Electoral Divisions (300+ residents) where McCormacks made up the largest share of the population. In Glendun, Co. Antrim, about one resident in 7 was a McCormack.

DEDCountyMcCormacksShare
GlendunAntrim41 13.4%
KillareWestmeath43 7.1%
PortlomanWestmeath26 6.5%
HilltownWestmeath34 6.0%
DooishDonegal35 5.8%
KilglassLongford61 5.7%
RathclooneyClare18 5.6%
GirleyMeath20 5.5%

Origins

Septs & territories

Many Irish surnames were adopted independently by unrelated families. These are the distinct McCormack lineages described in the sources.

A surname can point you towards a place. On its own, it cannot establish a pedigree.

Ó Cormaic of Tirkeeran

barony of Tirkeeran · Derry

A branch of the Oirghialla (Airgíalla) who held land in Tirkeeran until the O'Kanes displaced them.[6]

Ó Cormaic of Corca Laoighdhe

Corca Laoighdhe, south-west Cork · Cork

A branch of the Corca Laoighdhe, the old kingdom of west Cork, among whom Woulfe found the name common in the 16th century. Wikipedia separately records MacCormicks among the leading gentry of Cork in 1576, 1598 and 1600.[6][8][9]

Ó Cormacáin of Roscommon

the church of St Coman · Roscommon

A family apparently linked with St Coman's church. Fionn Ó Cormacáin was one of four hostages that Cathal Crobhdearg O'Conor, king of Connacht, gave to King John during his visit to Ireland in 1210.[2]

Ó Cormacáin of Thomond

parish of Moynoe · Clare

A Dál gCais church family, erenaghs (hereditary stewards) of Moynoe in east Clare. Three of them became bishops of Killaloe in the 13th and 14th centuries.[2]

Ó Cormacáin of Abbeygormican

parish of Abbeygormican, barony of Longford · Galway

This family founded the abbey that gave the parish its name, Abbey-Gormican, in south-east Galway.[2]

Ó Cormacáin of Down

Iniscourcey · Down

A church family who were erenaghs of Iniscourcey. Woulfe thought a Co. Down Ó Cormaic family was probably the same people.[2][6]

MacCormick of Fermanagh

Fermanagh · Fermanagh

Wikipedia says the Annals of the Four Masters record the deaths of several prominent MacCormicks of Fermanagh, the last in 1431. A John McCormick received land at Drumboy in Boho parish in the mid-17th century.[9][10]

The name over time

History

A name from Cormac

Cormac was one of the most widely used personal names of early Ireland, and the patronymic Mac Cormaic grew up independently wherever a family's ancestor bore it. Woulfe therefore treats it as a common surname found in every part of the country, rather than the name of a single sept. In English it was written MacCormac, MacCormack, MacCormick, and, with the prefix dropped, Cormack or Cormick. McCormack and McCormick are both spellings of the same Irish name, and the Gaois dataset matches both to Mac Cormaic.[1][5][4]

The Ó Cormaic families

Alongside the Mac form stood Ó Cormaic, 'descendant of Cormac', the name of several distinct families. One, a branch of the Oirghialla, held land in the barony of Tirkeeran in Co. Derry until the O'Kanes dispossessed it. Another was part of the Corca Laoighdhe in the south-west of Co. Cork, where Woulfe found many bearers in the 1500s. Woulfe thought a Dalcassian family and a Co. Down family of the name were probably the same as the Ó Cormacáin families of those districts. Most of these are now Cormack or Cormick rather than McCormack.[6][8][11]

Church families of Ó Cormacáin

Ó Cormacáin, from the diminutive Cormacán, was the name of at least four families, and Woulfe says it is now often hidden under MacCormack. In Roscommon one family was tied to St Coman's church, and a Fionn Ó Cormacáin was given as a hostage to King John in 1210. In Thomond the family were erenaghs of Moynoe and supplied three bishops of Killaloe. In Galway they founded the abbey of Abbeygormican, and in Down they were erenaghs of Iniscourcey.[2][12]

MacCormicks in Fermanagh and Munster

Wikipedia reports that the Annals of the Four Masters record the deaths of several prominent MacCormicks of Fermanagh, the last in 1431. It also places MacCormicks among the leading gentry of Co. Cork in 1576, 1598 and 1600, one of them, of Muskerry, raising a large force for the Earl of Desmond in the Elizabethan wars. In the 17th century a John McCormick was granted land at Drumboy in Boho, Co. Fermanagh. He gave evidence against Lord Conor Maguire at his treason trial and served as a commissioner taking evidence about the killings of 1641.[9][10]

Irish or Scottish?

Mac Cormaic was also a surname in Gaelic Scotland, so the name can be either Irish or Scottish. Wiktionary classes McCormick and McCormack as surnames from both Irish and Scottish Gaelic, and the Scottish Clan Maclaine of Lochbuie counts MacCormack, McCormick, Cormack and Cormick among its associated names. Burke's General Armory likewise has separate entries for M'Cormack of Scotland and M'Cormick of Ireland. Even the Athlone-born tenor John McCormack was the son of parents from Galashiels in Scotland. For any one family, only its own records can show which side of the North Channel it came from.[3][13][14][15][16]

McCormacks abroad

The name travelled widely. Daniel McCormick, born in Ireland around 1740, became a New York businessman and a founding director of the Bank of New York. Cyrus McCormick, from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, built the business behind the mechanical reaper. The Athlone-born tenor John McCormack became one of the most celebrated singers of his age, and John W. McCormack of Boston served as Speaker of the US House of Representatives from 1962 to 1971.[17][18][16][19]

Places linked to the name

  • Tirkeeran (Tír Mhic Caoirthinn), Co. Derry — Barony held by an Ó Cormaic branch of the Oirghialla until the O'Kanes took it.[6][11]
  • Moynoe (Maigh nEo), Co. Clare — Parish where the Ó Cormacáin family were hereditary erenaghs.[2][12]
  • Abbeygormican, Co. Galway — Parish named after the abbey founded there by the Ó Cormacáin family.[2]
  • Boho, Co. Fermanagh — Parish where John McCormick was granted land at Drumboy in the 17th century.[10]

Everyday lives

The McCormacks in the census

Who the McCormacks were in the 1901 and 1911 censuses (and 1926 where recorded), set against everyone in Ireland in the same census.

McCormacks All of Ireland Ireland's figure marked on the McCormack bar

Religion, 1911

Catholic +2.5 points vs Ireland
McCormacks 76.1%
All of Ireland 73.6%
Church of Ireland −3.4 points vs Ireland
McCormacks 9.8%
All of Ireland 13.2%
Presbyterian about the same as Ireland
McCormacks 10.3%
All of Ireland 10.1%
Methodist & other +0.7 points vs Ireland
McCormacks 3.8%
All of Ireland 3.1%

Irish language

Spoke Irish, 1901 −6.9 points vs Ireland
McCormacks 8.4%
All of Ireland 15.3%
Spoke Irish, 1911 −5.7 points vs Ireland
McCormacks 7.8%
All of Ireland 13.5%
Spoke Irish, 1926 · 26 counties −3.8 points vs Ireland
McCormacks 9.7%
All of Ireland 13.5%

119 McCormacks spoke Irish only in 1901.

Reading & writing

Could read and write, 1901 · aged 15+ about the same as Ireland
McCormacks 80.7%
All of Ireland 80.4%
Could read and write, 1911 · aged 15+ +0.7 points vs Ireland
McCormacks 86.5%
All of Ireland 85.8%

Family life, 1911

Household size · 2,093 households lower than Ireland
McCormacks 4.72
All of Ireland 4.83
Children born per mother · women 45–59 higher than Ireland
McCormacks 6.57
All of Ireland 6.46
Children still living −0.7 points vs Ireland
McCormacks 79.1%
All of Ireland 79.8%

Commonest occupations

Adults aged 15+, 1901 and 1911 combined.

Farmer1,699
Farmer's son726
Farmer's daughter378
General labourer330
Agricultural labourer320
Labourer258
Farm servant208
House keeper206
Seamstress182
Farm labourer179

Born outside Ireland

2.5% of McCormacks in 1911 gave a birthplace outside Ireland.

England131
Scotland69
United States38
India3
Australia & NZ2
Wales1

Median age: 23 in 1901, 25 in 1911.

Given names

First names among the McCormacks

Men and boys

  1. John1,712
  2. Patrick1,319
  3. James1,316
  4. Thomas1,031
  5. Michael876
  6. William683
  7. Joseph350
  8. Edward297
  9. Peter244
  10. Robert213

Women and girls

  1. Mary1,864
  2. Bridget878
  3. Margaret684
  4. Annie522
  5. Ellen517
  6. Catherine479
  7. Kate421
  8. Elizabeth383
  9. Anne368
  10. Maggie299

All three censuses combined. Top five in 1926: John, Patrick, James, Thomas, Michael; Mary, Bridget, Margaret, Annie, Kate.

Spellings

Spellings

This page combines the spellings below, which census enumerators and families used for the same name.

Spelling190119111926Records
McCormack4,9295,8655,420Search
McCormick4,6073,960872Search
MacCormack838873Search

Related forms

  • McCormick, MacCormick — Equally an English form of Mac Cormaic; Wiktionary lists McCormack as a variant of it.[1][5][13]
  • MacCormack, MacCormac, McCormac — Fuller or older spellings of the same name.[1][4]
  • Cormack, Cormick, Cormac — Forms without the prefix, from either Mac Cormaic or Ó Cormaic.[1][6][20]
  • Cormican, Gormican — The usual English forms of Ó Cormacáin, a name sometimes disguised as MacCormack.[2]

Diaspora

The McCormacks abroad

Emigration carried the name worldwide. In the 2010 United States census:

SpellingPeopleUS rank
McCormack17,4492074th
McCormick63,649532nd
MacCormack59937229th

Source: US Census Bureau, 2010 surname file (public domain).

Heraldry

Is there a McCormack coat of arms?

Arms belonged to individual families, and there is no single McCormack or McCormick crest. Burke's General Armory gives only general entries without naming a family: for M'Cormick of Ireland, a red zig-zag (dancetty) band between three blue spread eagles on silver within a black border, with a crest of a hand holding a spear, and for M'Cormack of Scotland a similar shield with red eagles. Crests and mottoes of Scottish clans with which the name is associated belong to those clans, not to McCormacks as such.[15][14]

Websites selling a single “McCormack family crest” are selling a design, not an inheritance. Arms in Ireland belonged to individuals and their heirs, and the Chief Herald of Ireland still grants arms that way today.

People

Notable people named McCormack

  • Daniel McCormick (1739/40–1834)
    Irish-born New York businessman and a founding director of the Bank of New York.
  • Henry MacCormac (1800–1886)
    Physician and man of letters who advocated the open-air treatment of illness.
  • Cyrus McCormick (1809–1884)
    Virginian inventor and founder of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, maker of the mechanical reaper.
  • Sir William MacCormac (1836–1901)
    Surgeon, advocate of Lister's antiseptic methods and President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
  • John McCormack (1884–1945)
    Lyric tenor celebrated in opera and popular song, made a papal count.
  • John W. McCormack (1891–1980)
    Boston Democrat, Speaker of the US House of Representatives from 1962 to 1971.
  • Liam McCormick (1916–1996)
    Derry architect of 27 church buildings and a founder of the modern Irish architectural movement.
  • Mark McCormack (1930–2003)
    American lawyer and sports agent who founded the management company IMG.
  • Inez McCormack (1943–2013)
    Trade unionist and first woman president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
  • Eric McCormack (born 1963)
    Canadian-American actor best known as Will Truman in Will & Grace.
  • Mike McCormack (born 1965)
    Novelist and short-story writer, winner of the Goldsmiths Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award.
  • Daryl McCormack (born 1993)
    Actor known for Peaky Blinders and the series Bad Sisters.

Questions

Questions about the McCormack name

Is McCormack Irish or Scottish?

It can be either. Mac Cormaic, 'son of Cormac', was formed independently by many families in Ireland, where Woulfe found it in every part of the country, and in Gaelic Scotland, where the name is associated with the Clan Maclaine of Lochbuie among others. Some Irish McCormacks also descend from the separate Irish names Ó Cormaic and Ó Cormacáin.[1][3][14][2]

Are McCormack and McCormick the same name?

Yes. Both are English spellings of Mac Cormaic, and the Gaois surname dataset gives Mac Cormaic as the Irish form of each. Wiktionary treats McCormack as a variant of McCormick. The choice of spelling usually reflects family habit or local custom rather than a different origin.[5][13][1]

What is McCormack in Irish?

Mac Cormaic, 'son of Cormac'. A family of Cormack or Cormick may instead be Ó Cormaic, 'descendant of Cormac', and Woulfe notes that Ó Cormacáin, from the pet form Cormacán, was also often turned into MacCormack in English. In Scotland the same Gaelic surname, Mac Cormaic, gave rise to Scottish McCormicks and McCormacks.[1][6][2]

What does McCormack mean?

It means 'son of Cormac'. The meaning of Cormac itself is less certain: Woulfe and Wiktionary connect it with corb, 'chariot', making Cormac a 'charioteer', while Wikipedia notes that the first element is unclear. The often-repeated 'son of the raven' comes mostly from baby-name books.[6][3][7]

How do you pronounce McCormack?

The stress falls on the middle syllable: 'muh-KOR-mak'. As in most Mac names, the prefix is unstressed and reduced to a short 'muh'. McCormick is said the same way with a final 'mik'; Wiktionary gives the IPA /məˈkɔː(ɹ)mɪk/.[3]

Is there a McCormack family crest or coat of arms?

No single crest belongs to everyone of the name. Burke's General Armory records only general arms under M'Cormick (Ireland) and M'Cormack (Scotland), without naming any particular family. Crests of Scottish clans linked with the name, such as the Maclaines of Lochbuie, belong to those clans, and any arms sold as 'the McCormack crest' should be treated with caution.[15][14]

Where in Ireland is the McCormack surname most common?

In the 1911 census the largest numbers of McCormacks lived in Antrim (1,626), Down (943), Dublin (929). Relative to population, the name was most concentrated in Westmeath (120 per 10,000), Longford (109 per 10,000), Roscommon (46 per 10,000).

How common was the McCormack surname in Ireland?

9,913 people were recorded as McCormack or McCormick or MacCormack in the 1911 census of Ireland, making it the 57th most common surname. That is roughly 0.2% of the population, or 1 person in 442.

Looking for a McCormack ancestor?

Search every McCormack household in the 1901, 1911 and 1926 censuses, with free images of the original forms.

Search records on irishcensus.com

Evidence

Sources

  1. Patrick Woulfe, Mac Cormaic, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  2. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Cormacáin, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  3. Wiktionary contributors, McCormick (2026)
  4. Wikipedia, McCormack (2026)
  5. Gaois research group, Dublin City University, Sloinnte: Irish surname dataset (version 2) (2022)
  6. Patrick Woulfe, Ó Cormaic, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  7. Wikipedia, Cormac (2026)
  8. Wikipedia, Corcu Loígde (2026)
  9. Wikipedia, McCormick (surname) (2026)
  10. Wikipedia, Boho, County Fermanagh (2026)
  11. Wikipedia, Tirkeeran (2026)
  12. Wikipedia, Moynoe (2026)
  13. Wiktionary contributors, McCormack (2026)
  14. Wikipedia, Clan Maclaine of Lochbuie (2026)
  15. Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884). Entries 'M'Cormack (Scotland)', 'M'Cormick (Ireland)' and 'Cormick (Ireland)'.
  16. Wikipedia, John McCormack (tenor) (2026)
  17. Wikipedia, Daniel McCormick (banker) (2026)
  18. Wikipedia, Cyrus McCormick (2026)
  19. Wikipedia, John W. McCormack (2026)
  20. Wikipedia, Cormack (surname) (2026)
  21. Census of Ireland 1901 and 1911, and Census of Population 1926, National Archives of Ireland. Counts compiled by surnames.ie from the irishcensus.com transcription (dataset 20260831130351). 1926 data © National Archives of Ireland, CC BY 4.0.

How we compile these figures: methodology.