McCormack — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Mac Cormaic
Meaning: 'son of Cormac'
Traditional stronghold: Longford, Westmeath
Pronunciation: mick-KOR-mack; Irish Mac Cormaic: mock KOR-mick
History of the McCormack name
McCormack, Mac Cormaic, means 'son of Cormac', one of the most popular personal names of early Ireland, borne by legendary kings and saints alike. Because any man named Cormac could found the patronymic, the surname sprang up independently across the country, and no single sept can claim it; it is nonetheless especially associated with the midlands, Longford and Westmeath above all. The spelling McCormick predominates in Ulster and Scotland. The name was carried around the world by the Athlone tenor John McCormack, whose recordings made it one of the most famous Irish surnames of the twentieth century.
Variants: MacCormack · McCormick · Cormack · MacCormick
Famous bearers of the name
- John McCormack — Athlone-born tenor of world renown, created a papal count in 1928.
- John W. McCormack — Boston Irish politician, Speaker of the US House from 1962 to 1971.
- Inez McCormack — Northern Irish trade unionist and human-rights campaigner.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Daly · O'Farrell · Dillon · Nugent · Scully · Coffey · Carey · Dalton