McGrath - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Mac Craith
Meaning: “son of grace/prosperity”
Traditional stronghold: Waterford, Tyrone
Pronunciation: muh-GRAH (also muh-GRATH); Irish Mac Craith: mok KRAH
History of the McGrath name
Mac Craith, also written Mag Raith, derives from the personal name Mac Raith, meaning 'son of grace' or 'prosperity'. The original sept arose in Thomond, where the McGraths were hereditary poets to the O'Briens, and branches settled in Clare, Tipperary and west Waterford. Another famous branch went north to the shores of Lough Derg on the Donegal-Fermanagh border, serving as coarbs, hereditary guardians, of the shrine of St Daveog at the great pilgrimage site of Lough Derg, their district still called Termonmagrath.
The family's most notorious member, Miler Magrath, contrived to be simultaneously a Catholic bishop and Protestant Archbishop of Cashel, amassed a fortune, and died in 1622 reputedly aged one hundred.
Variants: Magrath · MacGrath · McGraw
Famous bearers of the name
- Miler Magrath - Sixteenth-century archbishop infamous for holding Catholic and Protestant offices at once.
- Paul McGrath - One of Ireland's most beloved footballers, hero of Italia 90 and USA 94.
- Joe McGrath - Revolutionary, government minister and founder of the Irish Hospitals' Sweepstake.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Walsh · O'Neill · Quinn · Power · Whelan · Donnelly · Devlin · Curran