''Mac Íomhair'' is a masculine
surname
In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community.
Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...
in the
Irish language
Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
. The name translates into
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
as "son of ''Íomhar''". The surname originated as a
patronym
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor.
Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...
, however it no longer refers to the actual name of the bearer's father. The form ''Nic Íomhair'' is borne by unmarried females; the forms ''Bean Mhic Íomhair'' and ''Mhic Íomhair'' are borne by married females. A variant form of ''Mac Iomhair'' is ''Mag Íomhair''; the feminine forms of this surname are likewise ''Nig Íomhair'', ''Bean Mhig Íomhair'', and ''Mhig Íomhair''. All these Irish surnames have various
Anglicised
Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...
forms.
Etymology
''Mac Íomhair'' translates into
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
as "son of ''Íomhar''". A variant form of the surname is ''Mag Íomhair''. These surnames originated as
patronym
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor.
Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...
s, however they no longer refer to the actual name of the bearer's father. The names ''Iomhar'', ''Imir'', ''Ímair'', ''Ímar'', ''HÍmair'' are variant
Gaelic
Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
derivatives of ''
Ívarr'', an
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
personal name
A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is known ...
.
Feminine forms
''Mac Íomhair'' and ''Mag Íomhair'' are masculine surnames. The form of ''Mac Íomhair'' for unmarried females is ''Nic Íomhair'', whereas the (unmarried) feminine form of ''Mag Íomhair'' is ''Nig Íomhair''; these names translate into English as "daughter of the son of ''Íomhar''. The form of ''Mac Íomhair'' for married females is ''Bean Mhic Íomhair'', whereas the (married) feminine form of ''Mag Íomhair'' is ''Bean Mhig Íomhair''; these particular feminine names can also been rendered simply as ''Mhic Íomhair'' and ''Mhig Íomhair''; these four surnames translate to "wife of the son of ''Íomhar''.
Anglicised forms
''Mac Íomhair'' has been
Anglicised
Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...
variously as ''
MacIvor'', ''
MacIver'', ''
MacKiver'', ''
MacKiever'', ''
MacÍmir'', ''
MacÍmair'', ''
MacÍmar'', ''
MacHÍmair'', ''MacGyver'', ''
MacKever'', ''
MacKevor'', ''
MacKeever'', ''
McKeever'', ''
MacKeevor'', ''
MacCure'', ''
MacIvers'', ''
Ivers Ivers is the Name of the following people:
* Donald L. Ivers (born 1941), former judge of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
*Eileen Ivers (born 1965), Irish-US-American musician
*Julia Crawford Ivers (1869 - 1930), US-American ...
'', ''
Eivers'',''
Èvors'', and ''
Keevers''.
[ which is a transcription of: ] Anglicised forms of ''Mag Íomhair'' include ''
MacGeevor'', ''
MacGeever'', and ''
MacGaver''.
[ which is a transcription of: ] According to the Patrick Woulfe, the surnames are of
Scottish origin.
They may also be Native Irish.
See also
*
Ímar
Ímar ( non, Ívarr ; died c. 873), who may be synonymous with Ivar the Boneless, was a Viking leader in Ireland and Scotland in the mid-late ninth century who founded the Uí Ímair dynasty, and whose descendants would go on to dominate the Iri ...
*
Uí Ímair
The Uí Ímair (; meaning ‘''scions of Ivar’''), also known as the Ivar Dynasty or Ivarids was a royal Norse-Gael dynasty which ruled much of the Irish Sea region, the Kingdom of Dublin, the western coast of Scotland, including the Hebrides ...
*
Norse–Gaels
The Norse–Gaels ( sga, Gall-Goídil; ga, Gall-Ghaeil; gd, Gall-Ghàidheil, 'foreigner-Gaels') were a people of mixed Gaelic and Norse ancestry and culture. They emerged in the Viking Age, when Vikings who settled in Ireland and in Scotlan ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac Iomhair
Irish-language masculine surnames
Patronymic surnames
Surnames of Irish origin