Surnames of Irish origin have experienced many changes in their spellings and forms. Before being translated into English, McNemmara appeared as Mac Conmara, which means "hound of the sea" or "warrior of the sea."
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Early Origins of the McNemmara family
The surname McNemmara was first found in County Clare (Irish: An Clár) located on the west coast of Ireland in the province of Munster, where MacConmara or MacNamara was chief of the territory of Clan Caisin, now the barony of Tullagh. The family was also sometimes styled chiefs of Clan Cuilean; derived from Cuilean, one of their chiefs in the eighth century. This ancient family have traditionally held the high office of hereditary marshals of Thomond.
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Early History of the McNemmara family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our McNemmara research. Another 136 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1402, 1426, 1768, 1797 and 1826 are included under the topic Early McNemmara History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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McNemmara Spelling Variations
Lacking standardized spellings, scribes and church officials recorded people's name according to how they sounded. This practice often led to the misleading result of one person's name being recorded under several different spellings. Numerous spelling variations of the surname McNemmara are preserved in the archival documents of the period. The various spellings of the name that were found include McNamara, McNamar, McNamarra, McNamard, Sheedy and many more.
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Early Notables of the McNemmara family
Another 44 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early McNemmara Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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Migration of the McNemmara family
Under the rule of England, land ownership in Ireland changed dramatically, and many native Irish families found themselves renting out land to farm from absentee owners. This was one of the prime reasons that immigration to North America began in the late 18th century: Irish farmers dreamed of owning their own parcel of land to work for themselves. At this point, the immigrants were at least of modest means for the passage across the Atlantic was often quite dear. In the 1840s the Great Potato Famine created an exodus of people of quite different means. These people were most often destitute: they either sold anything they had to gain a passage or they were sponsored by philanthropic societies. Many of these immigrants were sick from disease and starvation: as a result many did not survive the long transatlantic journey. Although those settlers that did survive were often despised and discriminated against by people already established in these nations, they were critical to rapid development of the powerful industrial nations of the United States and the country that would later become known as Canada. An examination of immigration and passenger lists shows many persons bearing the name of McNemmara or one of its variants: Augustine McNamara who arrived in St. John's Newfoundland in 1794; Bridget, Elizabeth, James, John, Martin, Mathew, Michael, Patrick, Timothy and William McNamara, who all arrived in Philadelphia between 1840 and 1860..
Ireland
