Magennis - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Mag Aonghusa
Meaning: “son of Aonghus”
Traditional stronghold: Down
Lords of Iveagh.
Pronunciation: muh-GEN-iss; Irish Mag Aonghusa: mog AYN-guss-ah
History of the Magennis name
Mag Aonghusa, 'son of Aonghus', was the ruling family of Iveagh (Uíbh Eachach) in County Down from the twelfth century, with their chief seat at Rathfriland. The Magennises were among the most powerful Gaelic lords of east Ulster, rivals and neighbours of the O'Neills, and in 1623 Art Roe Magennis was created Viscount Magennis of Iveagh as part of the Crown's policy of converting chiefs into peers. The family lost heavily after the 1641 rising and the Williamite wars, and several Magennis officers followed the Wild Geese to Spain and Austria. The same Irish name is more commonly anglicised today as McGuinness and McGinnis, with Magennis surviving chiefly in Down.
Variants: McGuinness · McGinnis · MacGenis · Guinness
Famous bearers of the name
- Arthur Magennis, 1st Viscount Iveagh - Gaelic lord of Iveagh raised to the peerage in 1623.
- James Magennis - Belfast submariner awarded the Victoria Cross in 1945, Northern Ireland's only VC of the Second World War.
- Ken Maginnis - Ulster Unionist MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, later Baron Maginnis of Drumglass.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Murray · Rooney · Garvey · Fitzsimons · McCartan · Savage · Gillespie · Lowry