surnames.ie

Irish surname · 98th most common in 1911

McNamara

Also spelt MacNamara

McNamara, also spelled MacNamara, comes from the Irish Mac Conmara, 'son of Cú Mara', a name meaning 'hound of the sea'. The family belonged to the Dál gCais of Thomond and ruled Clann Chuiléin in east Clare, where they ranked second only to the O'Briens.

Irish Mac Conmara
1901 census
7,472
#94 · 17 per 10,000
1911 census
7,222
#98 · 17 per 10,000
1926 census
6,448
#78 · 22 per 10,000
Most numerous
Clare
Highest share: Clare

Language & meaning

Meaning & Irish forms

Gaelic Gaelic Irish: a Dalcassian family of Thomond (Co. Clare), descended from Caisín, son of Cas, ancestor of the Dál gCais.[1][2]

Mac Conmara
“son of Cú Mara (hound of the sea)”[1][3]
Woulfe's headword, with early English spellings such as M'Conmara. A woman of the family is Nic Conmara.

The name is built on the personal name Cú Mara, usually explained as “hound of the sea”. Wikipedia names the ancestor as Cumara, a chief at Magh Adhair in Clare, whose son Domhnall (died 1099) was the first to carry the surname. Burke's General Armory gives the same descent.[1][3][4]

Pronunciation

McNamara: MAK-nuh-MAR-uh

Place

Where the McNamaras 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: 2.3 per 10,000 (38 people) Waterford: 10.2 per 10,000 (84 people) Dublin: 8.8 per 10,000 (422 people) Kilkenny: 8.5 per 10,000 (64 people) Carlow: 1.7 per 10,000 (6 people) Limerick: 90.3 per 10,000 (1,294 people) Louth: 2.1 per 10,000 (13 people) Tipperary: 17.1 per 10,000 (261 people) Roscommon: 12.2 per 10,000 (115 people) Meath: 1.7 per 10,000 (11 people) Wicklow: 0.8 per 10,000 (5 people) Cavan: 1.4 per 10,000 (13 people) Cork: 17.3 per 10,000 (682 people) Clare: 229.1 per 10,000 (2,393 people) Galway: 13.9 per 10,000 (254 people) Mayo: 32.6 per 10,000 (626 people) Sligo: 2.5 per 10,000 (20 people) Leitrim: 10 per 10,000 (63 people) Offaly: 17.7 per 10,000 (101 people) Laois: 8.6 per 10,000 (47 people) Kildare: 7.5 per 10,000 (50 people) Kerry: 6.9 per 10,000 (110 people) Monaghan: 0.7 per 10,000 (5 people) Wexford: 7.2 per 10,000 (74 people) Longford: 8.7 per 10,000 (38 people) Westmeath: 10.3 per 10,000 (62 people) Tyrone: 1.1 per 10,000 (15 people) Antrim: 1.8 per 10,000 (85 people) Armagh: 0.8 per 10,000 (9 people) Fermanagh: 3.5 per 10,000 (21 people) Londonderry: 2 per 10,000 (28 people) Down: 7 per 10,000 (213 people)
fewerup to 239 per 10,000

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

Highest concentration · 1911

Clare

229 per 10,000

2,393 McNamaras · 13.93× the national share

Highest share, 1911

  1. Clare 229
  2. Limerick 90
  3. Mayo 33
  4. Offaly 18
  5. Cork 17
  6. Tipperary 17
  7. Galway 14
  8. Roscommon 12

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
Antrim10785—22—
Armagh129—11—
Carlow1165322
Cavan141330114
Clare2,6792,3932,186239229230
Cork661682597171716
Donegal283811221
Down177213—67—
Dublin3554225278911
Fermanagh3721—64—
Galway280254208151412
Kerry76110111577
Kildare475046888
Kilkenny8864641299
Laois6447271195
Leitrim46638371015
Limerick1,2781,2941,232879088
Londonderry3428—22—
Longford363832898
Louth17139321
Mayo625626556323332
Meath12116221
Monaghan1459211
Offaly107101106181820
Roscommon100115100101212
Sligo252024333
Tipperary293261258181718
Tyrone1915—11—
Waterford96847311109
Westmeath626261101011
Wexford717471778
Wicklow1516013

Local strongholds in 1911

District Electoral Divisions (300+ residents) where McNamaras made up the largest share of the population. In Glendree, Co. Clare, about one resident in 5 was a McNamara.

DEDCountyMcNamarasShare
GlendreeClare70 21.5%
ClenaghClare52 9.4%
KillanenaClare73 8.7%
CaherClare44 8.6%
CarrigLimerick37 8.4%
KilkishenClare65 7.8%
CratloeClare39 7.4%
SlievemoreMayo134 6.9%

Origins

Septs & territories

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

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

Mac Conmara of Clann Chuiléin

Uí Caisín (the later deanery of Ogashin), afterwards all of Upper and Lower Tulla · Clare

The main and best-documented family of the name. Their first lands were Uí Caisín, nine parishes in east Clare, but they later held a much larger lordship called Clann Chuiléin after their clan-name. They were hereditary marshals of Thomond and had the right to inaugurate the O'Brien kings. Wikipedia says the lordship later split into East and West branches and names Mac Conmara Fionn as a cadet line.[1][3][2]

MacNamaras of Co. Down

not specified · Down

Woulfe notes that a branch of the Clare family had settled in Co. Down by the end of the 16th century. He gives no further detail of its lands or history.[1]

The name over time

History

The hound of the sea

The surname rests on an old personal name, Cú Mara, 'hound of the sea'. Wikipedia and Burke's General Armory agree that the chief who bore it, Cumara, lived at Magh Adhair in Clare, and that his son Domhnall, who died in 1099, was the first to be known as Mac Conmara. Woulfe places the family among the Dál gCais, the people of north Munster who produced the O'Brien kings, and traces them to Caisín, a son of Cas, the founder of that whole kindred. Their kindred name, Uí Caisín, comes from him.[1][3][4][2]

From Uí Caisín to Clann Chuiléin

The MacNamaras began with a compact territory, Uí Caisín, made up of nine parishes in east Clare that later formed the deanery of Ogashin. Over time they extended their rule across the whole of the baronies of Upper and Lower Tulla, and this larger lordship took the name Clann Chuiléin from the family's clan-name. Wikipedia's article on the Dál gCais describes Clann Chuiléin overrunning the neighbouring Uí mBloid until it controlled all of east Clare, and calls the MacNamara lords the strongest Dalcassian family after the O'Briens.[1][2]

Marshals and king-makers of Thomond

Woulfe says the MacNamaras held the hereditary office of marshal of Thomond, and that installing a new O'Brien king was their right. The inauguration mound at Magh Adhair, once in O'Hehir territory, passed to them. In 1311, during a contest for the kingship, Loughlin MacNamara inaugurated Murtagh O'Brien there while a rival party installed Dermot O'Brien at the same site. Seven years later, on 10 May 1318, MacNamara forces helped turn the Battle of Dysert O'Dea, where an English army was defeated by an alliance of Clare families.[1][5][6]

Builders of Quin, Bunratty and Knappogue

The family left a strong mark on the buildings of east Clare. Around 1350 the MacNamaras turned a ruined castle at Quin into a church, and the Franciscan friary that stands there now was built between 1402 and 1433, with the work credited to Sioda Cam MacConmara or a kinsman. Bunratty Castle was begun about 1450, possibly by Maccon Sioda MacNamara, and finished under his son Sean Finn; it had passed to the O'Briens by around 1500. Knappogue Castle was raised in 1467 by Seán, son of Síoda Mac Conmara.[7][8][9]

War, confiscation and exile

Knappogue became the seat of the MacNamara chiefs in 1571, and Donnchadh Mac Conmara led the rising of 1641 in the district. After the Cromwellian conquest the castle was confiscated and occupied by a parliamentarian, Arthur Smith, but it was given back to the MacNamaras after the Restoration of 1660. Burke records that John MacNamara Fionn, chief of the name, recovered his estate in 1655, and that later members of the family were living in France in the early 18th century. Francis MacNamara, high sheriff of Clare in 1789, sold Knappogue in 1800.[9][4]

Places linked to the name

  • Quin Abbey, Co. Clare — Franciscan friary rebuilt by the MacNamaras between 1402 and 1433; Burke notes a Macnamara family vault there.[7][4]
  • Knappogue Castle, Co. Clare — Tower house built in 1467 by Seán Mac Conmara and the seat of the MacNamara chiefs from 1571.[9]
  • Bunratty Castle, Co. Clare — Begun around 1450, probably by a MacNamara chief of Clann Chuiléin, before passing to the O'Briens.[8]
  • Magh Adhair, Co. Clare — Inauguration site of the O'Brien kings, which passed from the O'Hehirs to the MacNamaras.[5][3]

Everyday lives

The McNamaras in the census

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

McNamaras All of Ireland Ireland's figure marked on the McNamara bar

Religion, 1911

Catholic +23.3 points vs Ireland
McNamaras 96.9%
All of Ireland 73.6%
Church of Ireland −11.5 points vs Ireland
McNamaras 1.7%
All of Ireland 13.2%
Presbyterian −9.4 points vs Ireland
McNamaras 0.7%
All of Ireland 10.1%
Methodist & other −2.3 points vs Ireland
McNamaras 0.8%
All of Ireland 3.1%

Irish language

Spoke Irish, 1901 +5.7 points vs Ireland
McNamaras 21.0%
All of Ireland 15.3%
Spoke Irish, 1911 +5.3 points vs Ireland
McNamaras 18.8%
All of Ireland 13.5%
Spoke Irish, 1926 · 26 counties +1.4 points vs Ireland
McNamaras 14.9%
All of Ireland 13.5%

21 McNamaras spoke Irish only in 1901.

Reading & writing

Could read and write, 1901 · aged 15+ +1.4 points vs Ireland
McNamaras 81.8%
All of Ireland 80.4%
Could read and write, 1911 · aged 15+ about the same as Ireland
McNamaras 86.1%
All of Ireland 85.8%

Family life, 1911

Household size · 1,513 households about the same as Ireland
McNamaras 4.85
All of Ireland 4.83
Children born per mother · women 45–59 lower than Ireland
McNamaras 6.27
All of Ireland 6.46
Children still living +1.8 points vs Ireland
McNamaras 81.6%
All of Ireland 79.8%

Commonest occupations

Adults aged 15+, 1901 and 1911 combined.

Farmer1,431
Farmer's son744
Farmer's daughter404
General labourer262
Agricultural labourer213
Farm servant172
Labourer167
House keeper152
Farm labourer124
Domestic servant122

Born outside Ireland

1.1% of McNamaras in 1911 gave a birthplace outside Ireland.

England45
United States23
India6
Scotland3
Wales2
Canada1

Median age: 23 in 1901, 26 in 1911.

Given names

First names among the McNamaras

Men and boys

  1. John1,784
  2. Patrick1,349
  3. Michael1,321
  4. Thomas842
  5. James836
  6. William371
  7. Daniel256
  8. Martin255
  9. Joseph195
  10. Denis171

Women and girls

  1. Mary1,840
  2. Bridget1,033
  3. Margaret794
  4. Ellen491
  5. Catherine418
  6. Annie348
  7. Anne339
  8. Kate311
  9. Elizabeth172
  10. Sarah169

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

Spellings

Spellings

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

Spelling190119111926Records
McNamara6,8136,6545,899Search
MacNamara659568549Search

Related forms

  • MacNamara, Macnamara — The fuller Mac spelling. Burke's General Armory writes it Macnamara for every branch it lists.[1][4]
  • McNamara — The contracted Mc spelling of the same name, now the more common form.[3]
  • MacNamarra, MacNamarrow — Older English spellings that Woulfe records for Mac Conmara.[1]
  • M'Conmara — An early written form keeping the Irish spelling more closely.[1]
  • Nic Conmara — The Irish form used by a daughter of the family.[3]

Diaspora

The McNamaras abroad

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

SpellingPeopleUS rank
McNamara26,5341329th
MacNamara80829279th

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

Heraldry

Is there a McNamara coat of arms?

Arms belonged to particular families, so there is no single McNamara crest. Burke's General Armory records arms for the Macnamara sept of Clare: on red, a silver lion rampant with two gold spearheads above. The branch of Ayle and Ranna Castle bore the same arms, with a crest that Burke says was carved on the family vault in Quin Abbey and the motto 'Firmitas in coelo'; the Doolen and Ennistymon line used 'Virtute et valore'.[4]

Websites selling a single “McNamara 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 McNamara

  • Donnchadh Ruadh Mac Conmara (1715–1810)
    Munster hedge-school teacher and poet whose Newfoundland verses mix Irish and English.
  • Francis MacNamara ('Frank the Poet') (c. 1810–1861)
    Irish convict transported to New South Wales whose verse exposed the cruelty of the penal system.
  • Brinsley MacNamara (1890–1963)
    Pen name of John Weldon, author of the controversial Westmeath novel The Valley of the Squinting Windows.
  • Frank Hubert McNamara (1894–1961)
    Australian airman, the first Australian aviator awarded the Victoria Cross, in 1917.
  • Patrick V. McNamara (1894–1966)
    Massachusetts-born Democrat who served as US senator for Michigan from 1955 until his death.
  • Jean Macnamara (1899–1968)
    Australian doctor and scientist whose work showed polio had more than one strain.
  • Robert McNamara (1916–2009)
    US Secretary of Defense in the 1960s and later World Bank president; of Irish descent.
  • Kevin McNamara (1926–1987)
    Clare-born Catholic scholar who was Archbishop of Dublin from 1984 until his death.
  • Shelley McNamara (born 1952)
    Lisdoonvarna-born architect, co-founder of Grafton Architects and joint winner of the 2020 Pritzker Prize.
  • Garrett McNamara (born 1967)
    American big-wave surfer who set a world record for the largest wave surfed, at Nazaré in 2011.
  • Michael McNamara (born 1974)
    Independent politician, TD for Clare and from 2024 an MEP for the South constituency.

Questions

Questions about the McNamara name

Is McNamara an Irish surname?

Yes. McNamara is the English form of the Gaelic Mac Conmara. The family belonged to the Dál gCais of Thomond, the same kindred as the O'Briens, and ruled the lordship of Clann Chuiléin in east Clare. They were hereditary marshals of Thomond and took part in inaugurating the O'Brien kings.[1][2]

What is McNamara in Irish and what does it mean?

In Irish the name is Mac Conmara, 'son of Cú Mara'. Cú Mara means 'hound of the sea'. A woman of the family is Nic Conmara. The ancestor is said to be Cumara, a chief at Magh Adhair in Clare, whose son Domhnall, who died in 1099, first used the surname.[1][3][4]

Are McNamara and MacNamara the same name?

Yes. Mc is simply a shortened way of writing Mac, 'son of', and both spellings stand for Mac Conmara. Older records also show forms such as Macnamara, MacNamarra and MacNamarrow. The choice of spelling usually reflects a clerk's or a family's habit rather than a separate origin.[1][3][4]

Where does the McNamara name come from?

Co. Clare. The family's first territory, Uí Caisín, lay in the east of the county, and they later ruled the baronies of Upper and Lower Tulla as Clann Chuiléin. Quin, Knappogue and Bunratty were all MacNamara strongholds. Matheson's report on births registered in 1890 still found the name mainly in Clare, Limerick, Mayo, Dublin and Cork.[1][7][9][8][10]

How do you pronounce McNamara?

It is said 'mack-nuh-MAR-uh', with the stress on the third syllable. Wiktionary gives the American pronunciation as /mæknəˈmærə/. Irish speakers say the Irish form, Mac Conmara, differently, but the English form is pronounced the same way whether it is written McNamara or MacNamara.[11]

Is there a McNamara family crest or coat of arms?

Not one for everyone of the name. Burke's General Armory records arms for the Clare Macnamaras, a silver lion rampant on red with two gold spearheads, and lists branches at Doolen, Ayle and Kilgurtin. Their mottoes differed: 'Firmitas in coelo' for some lines and 'Virtute et valore' for another. Arms belonged to particular families, not to the surname.[4]

Where in Ireland is the McNamara surname most common?

In the 1911 census the largest numbers of McNamaras lived in Clare (2,393), Limerick (1,294), Cork (682). Relative to population, the name was most concentrated in Clare (229 per 10,000), Limerick (90 per 10,000), Mayo (33 per 10,000).

How common was the McNamara surname in Ireland?

7,222 people were recorded as McNamara or MacNamara in the 1911 census of Ireland, making it the 98th most common surname. That is roughly 0.2% of the population, or 1 person in 606.

Looking for a McNamara ancestor?

Search every McNamara 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 Conmara, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  2. Wikipedia, Dál gCais (2026)
  3. Wikipedia, McNamara (2026)
  4. Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884). Four 'Macnamara' entries: the Clare sept; Doolen and Ennistymon; Ayle and Ranna Castle; Kilgurtin and France.
  5. Wikipedia, Magh Adhair (2026)
  6. Wikipedia, Battle of Dysert O'Dea (2026)
  7. Wikipedia, Quin Abbey (2026)
  8. Wikipedia, Bunratty Castle (2026)
  9. Wikipedia, Knappogue Castle (2026)
  10. Robert E. Matheson, Special Report on Surnames in Ireland: McNamara (1909). Based on births registered in 1890.
  11. Wiktionary, McNamara
  12. 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.
  13. Irish forms cross-checked against Gaois surname data (Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, DCU).

How we compile these figures: methodology.