McGrath
Mac Craith · son of Craith
McGrath is Mac Craith in Irish, said mak GRAH, and means son of Craith.
Rath means grace or prosperity. The Clare family were hereditary poets to the O’Briens, and there is a separate Fermanagh family of the same name who kept the church lands at Termon.
How it changes
- A man: Mac Craith
- His daughter: Nic Craith
- A woman who married into it: Bean Mhic Craith
- The family together: Mhic Craith
Where it comes from
Clare, Waterford and Fermanagh
Also spelt
McGrath, MacGrath, Magrath, McGraw
A name, not a pedigree
This is where the name came from, which is not the same as where you came from. Names were translated, anglicised, taken on by tenants and neighbours, and carried in by settlers who were no relation to the family that started them. To follow your own line, the 1901 and 1911 censuses are free and searchable, and give the county each person was born in.