The Clan/Sept History

Maguire is the Anglicisation of the Gaelic Mag Uidhir, which means 'son of the brown-haired one'. The sept originated in County Fermanagh in the north of the country, where the name has been established since the tenth century. The chief of the family, Donn Carrach Mag Uidhir, became ruler of the entire county in the fourteenth century, and there followed fifteen further Mag Uidhir chieftains over the next three hundred years. The name is now thirtieth most numerous in Ireland, being most numerous in Co. Fermanagh and also very common in Co. Cavan.