McMahon - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Mac Mathúna
Meaning: “son of the bear”
Traditional stronghold: Clare, Monaghan
Pronunciation: muk-MAH-un; Irish Mac Mathghamhna: mahk MAH-goo-nuh
History of the McMahon name
Mac Mathghamhna, 'son of the bear', named the ruling sept of Oriel/Airgialla in what is now County Monaghan, where the McMahons held the lordship from the 14th century after supplanting the earlier O'Carroll dynasty, remaining powerful until the Ulster Plantation. A distinct and unrelated Mac Mathghamhna sept existed in Clare, part of the Dalcassian group associated with the O'Briens. The name's French form, Mac-Mahon, was carried to the continent by a Wild Geese emigrant family whose descendant Patrice de MacMahon became President of France in the 19th century, an unusual instance of an Irish surname reaching a foreign head of state. McMahon remains strongly linked with Monaghan and Clare today.
Variants: MacMahon · McMahan
Famous bearers of the name
- Patrice de MacMahon - President of France and Duke of Magenta, descended from Irish Wild Geese emigrants
- Heber MacMahon - 17th-century Bishop of Clogher and Confederate general
- Vince McMahon - American professional wrestling promoter, of Irish descent
- Bryan McMahon - Irish writer and schoolteacher from Listowel
Related names from the same part of Ireland: O'Brien · Kennedy · Quinn · Connolly · Duffy · McDonnell · Boland · Keane