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| Origins Available: |
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Surnames of Irish origin have experienced many changes in their spellings and forms. Before being translated into English, MacNemmera appeared as Mac Conmara, which means "hound of the sea" or "warrior of the sea."
The surname MacNemmera 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.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our MacNemmera research. Another 136 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1402, 1426, 1768, 1797 and 1826 are included under the topic Early MacNemmera History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
The scribes who created documents long before either the Gaelic or English language resembled their standardized versions of today recorded words as they sounded. Consequently, in the Middle Ages the names of many people were recorded under different spellings each time they were written down. Research on the MacNemmera family name revealed numerous spelling variations, including McNamara, McNamar, McNamarra, McNamard, Sheedy and many more.
Another 44 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early MacNemmera Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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 MacNemmera 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..