Parent’s name
McGuire surname meaning
An Irish patronymic from Mag Uidhir, “son of Odhar,” a personal name meaning pale or sallow.
The short story
McGuire is the anglicized form of Irish Mag Uidhir, “son of Odhar.” Odhar is a personal name or descriptive term associated with a pale, sallow, or dun colour. The prefix Mag is a form of Mac used before a vowel, and Maguire, MacGuire, McGwire, and McGwyre show the spelling range created by anglicization. The historic Maguire family is strongly associated with Fermanagh, but several family lines can bear the surname. Parent’s name is the high-confidence catalog type because the son-of construction is explicit.
Also seen as: Maguire, MacGuire, McGwire, McGwyre
Sources used
- Ancestry, last-name entry 'McGuire' (Irish Mag Uidhir)
- Irish Names and Surnames, 'Mag Uidhir' (son of Odhar)
- US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Last Names in the 2020 Census by Race and Hispanic Origin: Top 1,000 (Names2020_LastNames_RaceHispanic_Top1000.xlsx), released April 2026