Origin of the Name McGuirk
The origin of the name
McGuirk was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives.
Over the centuries Surnames developed a wide number of variants. Different spellings of the same name can be traced back to an original root. Additionally when a bearer of a name emigrated it was not uncommon that their original name would be incorrectly transcribed in the record books at their new location. Surnames were also often altered over the years based on how they sounded phonetically and depending on the prevailing political conditions it may have been advantageous to change a name from one language to another.
Variants of the name McGuirk
include McGurk, Gurk, Gurke and McGurke. These names are derived from the Gaelic Mag Oirc sept that was located in County Tyrone in the northern part of Ireland . A sept or clan was a collective term describing a group of persons whose immediate ancestors bore a common surname and inhabited the same territory. This sept descended from Niall Naoighiallach who was also known as 'Niall of the Nine Hostages' and who was a high-king of all Ireland . In modern times bearers of these names are still mostly found in Counties Tyrone and Antrim. The town of Ballygurk is located in nearby County Derry.
The McGuirk coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all McGuirk descendants.