652 Global MCGOURTY Family Members

MCGOURTY Family History

Recorded in the spellings of McGourkey, McGourry, and McGourty, this is an Irish surname. It derives from the pre 10th century surname Mac Dhorchaidh, which loosely translates as"the son of the little dark one" from the ancient word "dorcha" meaning dark. It was never a common name and was orginally found only in County Leitrim. However it is claimed that from the Middle Ages a number of nameholders moved further north to County Fermanagh, where in the 16th century or thereabouts, their name spelling was changed to the Norman-French surname Darcy! It was quite usual at this time for politically correct reasons, for Irish families to adopt "sounds like" English spellings or translations of Gaelic surnames, but this change, if true, went quite a step beyond that.