''Mac Íomhair'' is a masculine
surname
In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...
in the
Irish language
Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...
. The name translates into
English 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 (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic.
Patronymics are used, ...
, 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 or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...
forms.
Etymology
''Mac Íomhair'' translates into
English 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 (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic.
Patronymics are used, ...
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 derivatives of ''
Ívarr'', an
Old Norse
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...
personal name
A personal name, full name or prosoponym (from Ancient Greek ''prósōpon'' – person, and ''onoma'' –name) is the set of names by which an individual person or animal is known. When taken together as a word-group, they all relate to that on ...
. Native Gaelic surnames Mac Éibhir and Mac Éimhir also exist, and Flann Ó Riain, in his "What's That" column in The Irish Times, states that some Mac Íomhairs may originally have been Mac Éibhir.
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 or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...
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:
*Alice Ivers (1851 - 1930), professional saloon poker player and faro player
*Donald L. Ivers (born 1941), former judge of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
*Eileen Ivers (born 1965), ...
'', ''
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 ( ; died c. 873) was a powerful Viking leader in Ireland and Scotland in the mid-late ninth century. He was the progenitor of the Uí Ímair dynasty, who would go on to dominate the Irish Sea region for several centuries. He was the son o ...
*
Uí Ímair
The Uí Ímair (; meaning ‘''scions of Ivar’''), also known as the Ivar dynasty or Ivarids, was a Norse-Gael dynasty which ruled much of the Irish Sea region, the Kingdom of Dublin, the western coast of Scotland, including the Hebrides and ...
*
Norse–Gaels
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac Iomhair
Irish-language masculine surnames
Patronymic surnames
Surnames of Irish origin