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![Show Contents]() Geir History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
- Origins Available:
 Scotland Ireland
The Geir family finds its ancestral home among the rugged mountains and sea-swept Hebrides islands of Scotland's west coast. In that area, once known as the kingdom of Dalriada, Geir evolved as a nickname for a short person. The Gaelic form of the surname is Mac an gheairr, which means son of the short or low-sized man. Early Origins of the Geir familyThe surname Geir was first found in Kirkcudbrightshire (Gaelic: Siorrachd Chille Chuithbheirt), part of the present day Council Area of Dumfries and Galloway, former county in Southwestern Scotland, where they held a family seat from very ancient times, and were believed to be descended from one of the many (350) chiefs who accompanied the banished King Colla da Crioch, who left Ireland for the Hebrides and south west Scotland in the year 327. This ancient Irish clann were originally from County Armagh in Ireland. Early History of the Geir familyThis web page shows only a small excerpt of our Geir research. Another 124 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1658, 1684 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Geir History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Geir Spelling VariationsIn the Middle Ages, the translation between Gaelic and English was not a highly developed process. Spelling was not yet standardized, and so, an enormous number of spelling variations appear in records of early Scottish names. Geir has appeared as McGirr, McGeer, McGear, MacGirr, MacGeer, McGhirr and many more. Early Notables of the Geir familyMore information is included under the topic Early Geir Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.  Migration of the Geir family to Ireland
Some of the Geir family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 68 words (5 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
| Geir migration to the United States | + |
Ancestors of many of the Dalriadan families who crossed the Atlantic still live along the east coast of the United States and Canada. Some Scottish settlers arrived in Canada during the American War of Independence as United Empire Loyalists, while others stayed south to fight for a new nation. The descendants of Scottish settlers in both countries began to rediscover their heritage in the 19th and 20th centuries through Clan societies and highland games. An inquiry into the early roots of North American families has revealed a number of immigrants bearing the name Geir or a variant listed above:
Geir Settlers in United States in the 19th Century- Christophe Geir, who landed in America in 1866 1
| Contemporary Notables of the name Geir (post 1700) | + |
- Fjölnir Geir Bragason (1965-2021), Icelandic tattoo artist. Commonly known as Fjölnir Tattoo, one of Iceland's foremost tattoo artists
- Geir Lundestad (1945-2023), Norwegian historian, who until 2014 served as the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute
- Geir Johnson (1953-2021), Norweigan composer, writer and initiator of culture projects who lived at Nesodden outside Oslo
- Geir Magnus Nyborg (1951-2018), Norwegian media scholar and theologian
- Geir Pollen (b. 1953), Norwegian poet, novelist and translator
- Geir Moen (b. 1969), former sprint athlete
- 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)
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Geir migration to the United States 
