Geraghty - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Mag Oireachtaigh
Meaning: “member of the assembly”
Traditional stronghold: Galway, Roscommon
Pronunciation: GERR-ah-tee; Irish Mag Oireachtaigh: mog IRR-akh-tee
History of the Geraghty name
Mag Oireachtaigh derives from oireachtach, meaning a member of an assembly or court, the same root as the modern Oireachtas. The sept belonged to the Síol Muireadhaigh of Connacht and was of the same stock as the royal O'Connors, holding lands in County Roscommon, where they appear in the medieval annals as chiefs and churchmen associated with the see of Elphin. In later centuries the name spread west and south into Galway and Mayo, where it is most numerous today. Its many anglicised spellings, from Geraghty and Gerety to Garrity and McGarrity, reflect the difficulty English-speaking clerks had with the Irish original.
Variants: Gerety · Geraty · Garrity · McGeraghty
Famous bearers of the name
- Barry Geraghty - Meath-born jockey, one of the most successful jump riders in history, winner of the Grand National and two Gold Cups.
- Graham Geraghty - Meath Gaelic footballer, All-Ireland winning captain in 1999.
- Des Geraghty - Dublin trade unionist and former president of SIPTU.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Kelly · O'Connor · Lynch · Murray · Connolly · Brennan · Burke · Flynn