MacGuire / McGuire / Maguire / McGwire
Sus armas: en campo de sinople un caballo blanco al que monta un caballero con armadura completa, llevando en su yelmo un penacho de plumas de avestruz y empu- ñando en su mano derecha una espada.
El apellido irlandés Maguire, McGuire, ó MacGuire ocupa el lugar nro. 29 en la lista de los más frecuentes en este país (ver lista). Dicha designación proviene de la palabra gaélica "MagUidhir". Este fue un clan que gobernó en Co.Fermanagh, en la provincia del Ulster, en las cercanías de Enniskillen. Aparece en los anales ya por el año 956, pero su preponderancia es del siglo XVI, permaneciendo durante los tres siglos siguientes en el Ulster. Aunque no fueron enteramente desposeídos, sufrieron importantes confiscaciones bajo Cromwell y Guillermo de Orange. Actualmente la mayoría de los MAGUIRE provienen de Fermanagh, y los MacGUIRE de Mayo y Roscommon. O'Hart dice que pertenecen a la línea de Heremon, descendientes de Cormac, hijo de Cairbre an Daimh Airgid, que es el Nº 91 en el pedigree de los O'Hart. En las listas de pasajeros llegados al puerto de Buenos Aires entre 1825 y 1880 se cuentan 17 personas de este apellido, que arribaron a nuestras playas entre 1835 y 1874.
MacGUIRE is a distinguished Gaelic or [K]eltic family. According to 'The Origin Of Clan Maguire' by Miss Ivy Rooney, the Maguire clan is said to have originated in the middle of Ireland in the County of Westmeath, in the province of Leinster and to have moved from there to the county of Fermanagh in the province of Ulster, modern day Northern Ireland. (source: Kathleen Neil Maguire Bulletin 1996 p.11)
The name is derived from the Irish Gaelic, Mag-Uidhir (Mag, Mac - son of & Uidhir - Dun colored, sallow). You can hear the actual pronunciation in Irish of the name at the PBS site Irish in America - Maguire. Uidhir is the possessive form of the proper name of Odhar & an interesting fact about that name is that it was in common use at the time of our progenitor because people are prone to name their children after hero's, Odhar being the name sake of a "hero-saint" who was St. Patrick's servant & chariot-driver, who reputedly saved his master's life by taking his place when his life was sought by pagans in about 452 A.D. (For more information on this please consult The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XI and do a search on the page for the name of Odhran. Today, the Maguire surname is approximately 39th place of the most common surnames in Ireland, but it definitely holds first place in the County of Fermanagh! The majority of those who use the spelling Maguire are chiefly associated with County Fermanagh, in Northern Ireland, and those who use the spelling MacGuire or McGuire usually originated from Mayo or Roscommon. Other various spellings of this surname are; MacGiver, MacGuier, MacGuiver, MacGuire, MacGwire, Macquer, Macquire, Maguier, Maguir, Maguyre, Magwire, McGuire, McQuire.
The names McGuire and Maguire in Ireland are among the forty most frequently found in the entire country and is derived from the native Gaelic MagUidhir Sept who ruled in County Fermanagh in the Province of Ulster, near Enniskillen. It is in Fermanagh, as well as in Counties Mayo and Roscommon that the majority of descendants can be found.
