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| Origins Available: |
| | Ireland |
Irish surnames are all based on the Gaelic language native to Ireland. The original Gaelic form of the name Oscar is Mag Uidhir, which is derived from the word odhar, meaning dun-colored; in the genitive case, the word is uidhir.
The surname Oscar was first found in County Fermanagh (Irish: Fear Manach) in the southwestern part of Northern Ireland, Province of Ulster.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Oscar research. Another 92 words (7 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Oscar History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Names from the Middle Ages demonstrate many spelling variations. This is because the recording scribe or church official often decided as to how a person's name was spelt and in what language. Research into the name Oscar revealed many variations, including MacCosker, MacCusker, MacOsker, MacOscar and many more.
More information is included under the topic Early Oscar Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
In the United States, the name Oscar is the 13,443rd most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1
To escape the religious and political discrimination they experienced primarily at the hands of the English, thousands of Irish left their homeland in the 19th century. These migrants typically settled in communities throughout the East Coast of North America, but also joined the wagon trains moving out to the Midwest. Ironically, when the American War of Independence began, many Irish settlers took the side of England, and at the war's conclusion moved north to Canada. These United Empire Loyalists, were granted land along the St. Lawrence River and the Niagara Peninsula. Other Irish immigrants settled in Newfoundland, the Ottawa Valley, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The greatest influx of Irish immigrants, however, came to North America during the Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s. Thousands left Ireland at this time for North America and Australia. Many of those numbers, however, did not live through the long sea passage. These Irish settlers to North America were immediately put to work building railroads, coal mines, bridges, and canals. 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 Oscar or a variant listed above, including: