Corkern History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• England
• Ireland

The name Corkern comes from the Gaelic Mac Corcrain or O Corcrain, both of which are derived from the word "corcair," which now means purple, but originally meant ruddy.

Early Origins of the Corkern family

The surname Corkern was first found in County Fermanagh (Irish: Fear Manach) in the southwestern part of Northern Ireland, Province of Ulster, where they held a family seat from very ancient times.

Important Dates for the Corkern family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Corkern research. Another 194 words (14 lines of text) covering the years 1001, 1172, 1373, 1641, 1691, 1827, 1861, and 1863 are included under the topic Early Corkern History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Corkern Spelling Variations

One must realize that attempting to record a Gaelic name in English was a daunting task. Even today the translation is a difficult one. Names, therefore, often had many spelling variations. The variations of the name Corkern include: MacCorcoran, O'Corcoran and others.

Early Notables of the Corkern family (pre 1700)

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

Migration of the Corkern family

Suffering from poverty and racial discrimination, thousands of Irish families left the island in the 19th century for North America aboard cramped passenger ships. The early migrants became settlers of small tracts of land, and those that came later were often employed in the new cities or transitional work camps. The largest influx of Irish settlers occurred with Great Potato Famine during the late 1840s. Although the immigrants from this period were often maligned when they arrived in the United States, they provided the cheap labor that was necessary for the development of that country as an industrial power. Early immigration and passenger lists have revealed many immigrants bearing the name Corkern: Thomas Corcoran who settled in New York State in 1811; Edward Corcoran, who arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1825; Andrew Corcoran, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1832.