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Meaning: ' Mc'=Mac=Mag= (Son or Daughter of the) 'Guire'=Uidhir=‘son of Odhar’,(Odhar=dun-colored one=pale-colored one), translated purely as: "Son/Daughter of the pale one."
Family Crest and Coat of Arms: Vert a white horse fully caparisoned thereon a knight in complete armour on his helmet a plume of ostrich feathers his right hand brandishing a sword all proper.
Crest (borne by McGuire of Tempo and others): On a ducal coronet or a stag at gaze proper collared and lined gold.
Legendary Last Royal Family of Northern Ireland
McGuire castle in Fermanagh, Enniskillen: http://inlinethumb06.webshots.com/42949/2963975760085123248S600x600...
McGuire's Bridge in Fermanagh http://www.ulsterplacenames.org/images/Maguires_bridge.jpg Maguiresbridge (Irish: Droichead Mhig Uidhir) is a small village in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The village is named after the bridge (over the Colebrooke River) first built by the local Maguire family. Maguiresbridge Fermanagh. ‘Maguire's bridge’. Magwyre's bridge 1639. The village grew up after 1760 when Brian Maguire of the local family of this name was given a grant to hold a market here. The corresponding Irish name is Droichead Mhig Uidhir.
Related Names: MacGuire, Maguire, Mag Uidhir
ORIGIN AND HISTORY
From the Irish Gaelic name 'Mag Uidhir', meaning "of the pale-colored one". Historical Irish documents indicate that the name McGuire, Maguire, MacGuire, (and variations of this) may stem from the Magi of Eire...who were the priests of ancient Ireland. The surname McGuire is a variant of the Irish: Maguidhir. Udhir is the genetive case of odhar meaning 'dun-colored'; mag is a form of mac, meaning 'son of'. The name is most often associated with County Fermanagh, Ireland. The McGuire/Maguire/Maguidhir Royal Family (Maguidhirs) lived in the McGuire (Maguidhir) castle in Enniskillen. The origins of the island town of Enniskillen go back to prehistory when this short nexus was the main highway between Ulster and Connaught. Enniskillen Castle was the medieval seat of the McGuire (Maguidhir), chieftains of Fermanagh, who policed the lough with a private navy of 1,500 boats.
Today the McGuire castle houses the county museum which contains exhibits and nationally supported tours on the region's well known ancient Irish history, archaeology and folklore. The regimental museum features trophies of the Enniskillin regiments who fought at Waterloo. Undisputed as the most ancient and legendary of Ireland's lineages, Shakespeare's contemporary, Edmund Spenser, wrote about the Maguidhirs and Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett were both pupils at Maguidhir's royal school here. The ancient Buttermarket is now a craft centre and you can buy lace, knitwear and their famous Maguidhir Belleek chinaware.
McGuire (in the form of Maguidhir) first appears in the Irish Annals in the year 956, but the clan did not come into dominance in the region of Fermanagh until the 14th century. The McGuires ruled Fermanagh from 1300-1589, and their chief was one of the most powerful in Ulster. Their first king was Donn McGuire, who died in 1302, began his reign when the clan was still relatively small. For 300 years the McGuires expanded their control so that by 1600 they controlled absolutely everything in the county. According to The Fermanagh Story "Donn [McGuire] was merely king of Fermanagh owning, presumably, a relatively small estate. His successors moved into the rest of the county.
By 1400 their superiority was unquestioned. By 1500 they actually possessed most of the present county. Not only that, but McGuires manned every position in the county. Had the McGuire expansion not been held in check by the English, after 1600 it would have been hard to find any other family in the county.
The last McGuire prince was Hugh McGuire (1589-1600), who came to power during the reign of Elizabeth I in England. This was a time when the English conquest to effectively control England was most urgent. At first, he continued the policy of his predecessor, which was one of appeasement of the English. He even went to Dublin in 1591 to become Sir Hugh McGuire, in Christ Church Cathedral.
In 1592, the Governor, Seneshal, and Sheriff of the neighboring provinces began to raid and plunder Fermanagh (probably under suspicion of McGuires involvement with the Tyrone-led plot against the English). When McGuire appealed to the Lord Deputy for protection, he was answered by more plundering. McGuire saw that a war for survival was unavoidable. In May 1593 he expelled the new English sheriff. This attack on the English is considered by many to be the signal for the opening of the Nine Years War. Hugh McGuire was killed by Sir Warham Sent Leger in an encounter in Cork.
The war ended with the surrender of the Irish princes to the English. It also effectively signals the beginning of the end of the McGuire reign in Fermanagh. Though they were not entirely stripped of their lands, no Irish prince in Ulster was allowed to breathe freely under the English regime, and many eventually left their native land.
The McGuires seem to have provided fair government of the county. In all there were 15 McGuire princes and of them, only one was assassinated. Their expansion efforts did not necessarily bring war, and there are occasions when the Maguires are found making peace between rival clans.
Apart from government, the McGuires were great benefactors of the Church. They endowed churches, they introduced new religious orders and they respected the rights of the church. In general, Fermanagh under the McGuires was a peaceful place.
sources 1. The Fermanagh Story by Peadar Livingstone pub 1969 Cumann Seanchais Chlochair 2. Irish Families, Their Names, Arms, and Origins, by Edward MacLusaght 3. Historic Maguire Chalices by The Maguire of Fermanagh pub 1996 Fermanagh District Council 4. Irish Book of Arms plates 5. Irish Chiefs and Leaders by Rev. Paul Walsh 1960 Dublin POPULARITY
-There are over 52,000 people with the last name "McGuire" in the United States.
-McGuire averages at being the 450th most popular name in America.
-McGuire is often used in movies to connotate characters who are from "Northern Ireland" or characters who are "very Irish."
-McGuire is one of the most popular names used in American movies to identify "Irish" characters, i.e. "Jerry McGuire," "Lizzie McGuire," etc,...
-The most famous Irish pub in America is McGuire's Irish Pub: http://www.mcguiresirishpub.com
-Michael J. McGuire emigrated from Ireland to California in the 1890s to form (with Mike Hester) one of the largest engineering companies 'McGuire and Hester' on the west coast.
-Peter J. McGuire (1852 - 1906) is the "father" of the American Labor Day and of May Day, as well as the founder of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Peter J. McGuire was one of the most remarkable figures in the history of the American labor movement.
-In 1919, Walter E McGuire, one of the founding fathers of San Francisco and founding member of the San Francisco Association of Realtors, started his business: McGuire Real Estate, which is one of the largest real estate companies in the Bay Area. FACTS
The McGuire Prayer & Motto: Justitudia et Fortitudia, Invincibilia sunt (or in English): Justice and Fortitude are Invincible Forever, Amen.Italic text
Many McGuires are known to recite this motto every night as a traditional family prayer before sleeping.