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McConkey History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

Contemporary Notables Historic Events Related Stories Citations

McConkey History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Ireland
Scotland

The original Gaelic form of the name McConkey is Óconnachtaigh. This name can be considered a place name as it indicates that its original bearer inhabited Connaught. The prefix O, meaning '"grandson of" indicates descent from the original bearer.

Early Origins of the McConkey family

The surname McConkey was first found in County Donegal with the MacSweenys. That name is derived from Suibhne O'Neill, who was a chieftain in Argyll, Scotland. His descendants migrated to Ireland as gallowglasses (mercenaries) prior to 1267. The three great septs of this name finally established themselves in Tirconnell in 14th century; they were known as MacSweeney Fanad, MacSweeney Banagh, and MacSweeney na dTuath, who were commonly referred to as 'MacSweeney of the Battleaxes.'

Early History of the McConkey family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our McConkey research. Another 182 words (13 lines of text) covering the year 1893 is included under the topic Early McConkey History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

McConkey Spelling Variations

Scribes and church officials, lacking today's standardized spelling rules, recorded names by how they were pronounced. This imprecise guide often led to the misleading result of one person's name being recorded under several different spellings. Numerous spelling variations of the surname McConkey are preserved in documents of the family history. The various spellings of the name that were found include Conaty, O'Conaty, Connaghty, Connoty, MacConaghy, MacConkey and many more.

Early Notables of the McConkey family

More information is included under the topic Early McConkey Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

McConkey Ranking

In the United States, the name McConkey is the 16,434^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1

McConkey migration to the United States +

In the 18th and 19th centuries, thousands of Irish families fled an Ireland that was forcibly held through by England through its imperialistic policies. A large portion of these families crossed the Atlantic to the shores of North America. The fate of these families depended on when they immigrated and the political allegiances they showed after they arrived. Settlers that arrived before the American War of Independence may have moved north to Canada at the war's conclusion as United Empire Loyalists. Such Loyalists were granted land along the St. Lawrence River and the Niagara Peninsula. Those that fought for the revolution occasionally gained the land that the fleeing Loyalist vacated. After this period, free land and an agrarian lifestyle were not so easy to come by in the East. So when seemingly innumerable Irish immigrants arrived during the Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s, free land for all was out of the question. These settlers were instead put to work building railroads, coal mines, bridges, and canals. Whenever they came, Irish settlers made an inestimable contribution to the building of the New World. Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the Irish name McConkey or a variant listed above, including:

McConkey Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Alexander McConkey, who landed in New England in 1718 2
John McConkey, who landed in New England in 1718 2

McConkey Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Thomas McConkey, aged 26, who landed in New York in 1812 2
George McConkey, who arrived in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1874 2
Patrick McConkey, who arrived in Mississippi in 1899 2

McConkey migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

McConkey Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century

George McConkey, aged 30, a merchant, who arrived in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1834 aboard the brig "Betsy Heron" from Belfast, Ireland

McConkey migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

McConkey Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

Mrs. Anna Mcconkey, (b. 1834), aged 28, Irish settler from County Down travelling from London aboard the ship "Zealandia" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 23rd May 1862 3
Mr. John Mcconkey, (b. 1838), aged 24, Irish farm labourer from County Down travelling from London aboard the ship "Zealandia" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 23rd May 1862 3
William Henry McConkey, aged 22, a farm labourer, who arrived in Auckland, New Zealand aboard the ship "Oxford" in 1874
Matthew McConkey, aged 26, a labourer, who arrived in Auckland, New Zealand aboard the ship "Queen of Nations" in 1874
Ann J. McConkey, aged 27, who arrived in Auckland, New Zealand aboard the ship "Queen of Nations" in 1874
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Contemporary Notables of the name McConkey (post 1700) +

Tony McConkey (b. 1963), American politician from Maryland
Phil McConkey (b. 1957), American former NFL football player
Edwin H. McConkey (b. 1931), American biologist
Thomas David McConkey (1815-1890), Irish-born Canadian businessman and political figure
Shane McConkey (1969-2009), Canadian professional skier, recipient of the 2001 ESPN Action Sport Awards Skier of the Year
James McConkey Robinson (1924-2016), American scholar and academic, Professor Emeritus of Religion at Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California

Historic Events for the McConkey family +

RMS Lusitania

Mr. Christopher Evans Mcconkey, Irish Second Waiter from Liverpool, England, who worked aboard the RMS Lusitania (1915) and died in the sinking 4

Citations +

"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 26th March 2019). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
Lusitania Passenger List - The Lusitania Resource. (Retrieved 2014, March 7) . Retrieved from http://www.rmslusitania.info/lusitania-passenger-list/