Guinness Family Crest, Coat of Arms & Guinness Name Origin

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Origin of the Name Guinness

The ancient history of the name Guinness was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. Variants of Guinness include McGenis, McGuinness, Magennis and Kinch. Kinch is the Manx form of MacGuinness. The modern spelling of this name is usually Guinness, McGuinness or Magennis. Like the chiefs of many of the great Irish septs Magennis took advantage of the English policy of 'surrender and regrant' early in the seventeenth century. Before this they were often at loggerheads with the ecclesiastical authorities and they showed a tendency to accept the tenets of the Reformation. Conforming bishops included two Magennises, one of Down, the other of Dromore. However, by 1598 the Magennis chief, whose father was officially regarded as 'the civillest of all the Irish in these parts', had joined Tyrone, his brother-in-law, and thus 'returned to the rudeness of the country'.