McGuckin (family name)

McGuckin
Family name
Meaning	"son of Eocha"
Region of origin	Ireland
Related names	McGuigan, Geoghegan

McGuckin is an anglicization of the Irish surname Mag Eocháin. The female form of the name in Irish is Nic Eocháin. This surname is most common in south County Londonderry followed by east Tyrone, both in Northern Ireland. The surname translates as "Son of Eocha" which probably refers to an important leader, warrior, chieftain or Ard Rí of the period before the Flight of the Earls, named Eocha or possibly Eochaidh from which the name Eocha derives. The McGuckin sept are thought to be of the Cenél nEógain of the Uí Néill. Allegedly the family motto is "semper patriae servire presio", which translates as "always ready to serve by country".

In my McGuckin family tree, McGuckin (first seen 1853) is a corruption of the Irish name McGouchan (1827) from Leitrim, Ireland. McGouchin, in turn, is a corruption of McGuchin (c 1810), also from Leitrim. Other corruptions of McGouchin are Magoohan (1863) and McGowan (1865). The three names, McGuckin, Magoohan and McGowan, surprisingly all appear among the children of a McGouchin who emigrated from Leitrim to Scotland. The children's births were registered in Fife for the 1st child and then Edinburgh for the remainder, where all three divergent spellings were registered in random order.

People

• William McGuckin de Slane, nineteenth-century Irish orientalist;
• Kieran McGuckin, senior hurler for Cork;
• Barton McGuckin, Irish tenor singer;
• John Anthony McGuckin, Orthodox Christian scholar, priest, and poet;
• Genevieve McGuckin, musician and song-writer;
• Kevin McGuckin, senior gaelic footballer for Derry;
• Mark McGuckin, Canadian television presenter;
• Aislin McGuckin, ex-Heartbeat actress.