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Rath History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

Contemporary Notables Historic Events Related Stories Citations

Rath History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Germany
Ireland

All Irish surnames have underlying meanings that can be traced back to their fullest points when the names first appeared in a Gaelic form. The name Rath originally appeared in Gaelic as Mac Graith or Mag Raith; these are both derived from the personal name Craith which literally means "to weave" and in this case is an occupational name too. The Mac or Mc prefix would denote "son of the weaver." 1

Anciently the family claim descent through O'Sullivan Mor which explains the stag (or antelope) in the fourth quarter of the shield. In turn, the O'Sullivans descend from the Heber line of Irish kings. 1

Early Origins of the Rath family

The surname Rath was first found in County Clare (Irish: An Clár) located on the west coast of Ireland in the province of Munster, where they held a family seat from ancient times. They were the hereditary poets to the O'Briens of Thomond. The family is still found here, but present day descendants usually hail from Tipperary and Waterford. Another branch was located at Termon MacGrath on the borders of Donegal and Fermanagh. 2

The MacGraths were Chiefs in the County of Waterford since very early times. A sub-branch was located at Ballynagilty in Waterford where Philip MacGrath was the progenitor. 1

This latter branch of the family produced Thomas McGrath of Ardagh, near Youhal, co. Cork who had four sons and twelve daughters. Thomas was descended from the Ulster M'Graths of Clanaboy, who were of the race of Clan Colla and were men of influence in County Waterford. Two of the sons emigrated to the Americas: Alderman Thomas McGrath of Montreal (died 1864); and Denis MacGrath of New York (died in 1846.) 1

Early History of the Rath family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Rath research. Another 87 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1067, 1097, 1172, 1240, 1389, 1395, 1400, 1415, 1421, 1423, 1433, 1450, 1460, 1463, 1523, 1580, 1600, 1622 and 1650 are included under the topic Early Rath History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Rath Spelling Variations

Official documents, crafted by early scribes and church officials, primarily contained names that were spelled according to their pronunciation. This lead to the problem of one name being recorded under several different variations, creating an illusion that a single person was many people. Among the many spelling variations of the surname Rath that are preserved in the archival documents of the time are MacGrath, MacGraw, MacGrauth, Magrath, Magraw and many more.

Early Notables of the Rath family

Notable among the family name at this time was

Miler MacGrath (1523-1622), Archbishop of Cashel. Seán mac Ruaidhri Mac Craith (fl. 14th-century), later known as John Macrory Magrath, was an Irish historian known as the author of Caithréim Thoirdhe...
Mathghamhain Mág Raith, was Bishop of Killaloe, (1389-1400) and Donatus Mág Raith, O.S.A., was Bishop of Killaloe (1400-1421.) Continuing this line was Thaddaeus Mág Raith I, Bishop of Killaloe (1423-...
Maolmhuire Mag Raith (Miler Magrath, Miler McGrath, also Myler) (c. 1523-1622), was an Irish priest and archbishop born in County Fermanagh, Ireland. He came from a family of hereditary historians to...

Rath Ranking

In the United States, the name Rath is the 7,652^nd most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 3

Rath migration to the United States +

In the 18th and 19th centuries hundreds of thousands of Irish people immigrated to North American shores. The early settlers were enticed by the promise of their own land, but they were moderately well off in Ireland when they decided to emigrate. Therefore, they were merely carrying out a long and carefully thought out decision. The 1840s saw the emergence of a very different trend: thousands of extremely desperate people crammed into passenger boats hoping to find any type of opportunity. The Irish of this decade had seen their homeland severely stricken by crop failures which resulted in widespread disease and starvation. At whatever time the Irish immigrants came to North America, they were instrumental in the rapid development of the emerging nations of the United States and what would become known as Canada. An exhaustive search of passenger and immigration lists has revealed many persons bearing the name Rath, or one of its variants:

Rath Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Kaspar Rath, who arrived in America in 1731 4
Johannes Hindrig von Rath, who settled in Philadelphia in 1733
Hans Georg Rath, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1750 4
Bernhard Rath, who landed in America in 1773 4
Gotfried Rath, who landed in America in 1773 4
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Rath Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Emil Rath, who landed in New York, NY in 1850 4
Adam Rath, who arrived in America in 1855 4
August Rath, who arrived in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1856 4
Adolph Rath, Barbara Rath and Anna Rath, who arrived in New York from Bremen in 1871
Henry J Rath, who arrived in Minnesota in 1874 4
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Rath Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Frank Rath, who arrived in Alabama in 1913 4

Rath migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Rath Settlers in Canada in the 20th Century

Barbara Rath, aged 27, who landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1902
Christine Rath, aged 24, who landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1902
Friedrich Rath, aged 26, who landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1902
Johann Rath, who arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1902
Katharina Rath, who landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1902
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Contemporary Notables of the name Rath (post 1700) +

Frederick Helsher "Fred" Rath Sr. (b. 1943), American Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Chicago White Sox during the 1968 and 1969 season
Morris Charles "Morrie" Rath (1886-1945), American Major League Baseball baseball player who played from 1909 to 1920, member of the Cincinnati Reds 1919 World Series Champions
Rachel Rath (b. 1976), Irish actress
Ari Rath (1925-2017), Austrian-Israeli journalist and writer
Meaghan Rath (b. 1986), Canadian film and television actress
Lukas Rath (b. 1992), Austrian association football player
Henry Coyle Rath (1898-1918), Canadian World War I flying ace credited with twelve aerial victories, recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross
Gerhard vom Rath (1830-1888), German mineralogist
Ernst Eduard vom Rath (1909-1938), German diplomat who was assassinated in Paris in 1938
Marius Rath (b. 1970), Norwegian ice hockey player at the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics
... (Another 2 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Historic Events for the Rath family +

Bismarck

Gustav Rath (1922-1941), German Matrose who served aboard the German Battleship Bismarck during World War II when it was sunk heading to France; he died in the sinking 5

Citations +

O'Hart, John, Irish Pedigrees 5th Edition in 2 Volumes. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1976. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0737-4)
MacLysaght, Edward, Irish Families Their Names, Arms and Origins 4th Edition. Dublin: Irish Academic, 1982. Print. (ISBN 0-7165-2364-7)
"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)
Bismarck & Tirpitz Class - Crew List Bismarck. (Retrieved 2018, February 06). Retrieved from https://www.bismarck-class.dk/bismarck/crew/bismarck_crew.html#crew_details