Fogarty - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó Fógartaigh
Meaning: “proclaimed, banished”
Traditional stronghold: Tipperary
Pronunciation: FOH-gur-tee; Irish Ó Fógartaigh: oh FOH-gur-tee
History of the Fogarty name
Ó Fógartaigh derives from fógartha, meaning proclaimed or banished. The sept belonged to the kingdom of Éile in north Munster, and their territory gave its name to the barony of Eliogarty in County Tipperary, the district around Thurles, where the name has remained rooted for a thousand years. The Fogartys appear in the annals as local kings and church patrons associated with the monastery of Inch. The name has never strayed far from its homeland: Tipperary and its neighbouring counties still account for a large share of Irish Fogartys, while emigration planted the name, often respelled Fogerty, in Britain and America.
Variants: Fogerty · Gogarty
Famous bearers of the name
- Michael Fogarty - Bishop of Killaloe for over fifty years and a prominent supporter of the independence movement.
- John E. Fogarty - Irish-American congressman from Rhode Island known as Mr Public Health for championing medical research.
- John Fogerty - American singer-songwriter of Creedence Clearwater Revival, bearing a variant spelling of the name.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: O'Brien · Ryan · Kennedy · Carroll · Hogan · Tobin · Keating · Egan