Show ContentsMcCafferey History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

There are multitude of rich histories underlying the many Irish surnames in use today. The name McCafferey originally appeared in Gaelic as Mac Gafraidh. Gafraidh or Gothraidh equates with the English personal name Godfrey. Variations that start with the prefix Mac or Mc mean son of Godfrey.

Early Origins of the McCafferey family

The surname McCafferey 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 at Ballymacaffrey near Five mile Town in Fermanagh near the Tyrone border. 1

Early History of the McCafferey family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our McCafferey research. Another 51 words (4 lines of text) covering the year 1987 is included under the topic Early McCafferey History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

McCafferey Spelling Variations

Ireland in the Middle Ages was inhabited by very few literate people. Therefore, the proper spelling of names was decided by a very select few. The surviving records for the time demonstrate that these scribes were often not consistent in their efforts for there are many spelling variations of certain common names. Some of the variations for the name McCafferey include MacCaffery, MacCaffrey, MacCafferty, MacAffery, MacAffry, MacAfferty, MacGoffrey, MacGodfrey and many more.

Early Notables of the McCafferey family

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


McCafferey migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

McCafferey Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century
  • Mrs. Sarah Mccafferey, (McCaffrey), (b. 1787), aged 39, Irish house servant who was convicted in Dublin, Ireland for 14 years for uttering forged notes, transported aboard the "Brothers" on 3rd October 1826, arriving in New South Wales, Australia, listed as having 3 children 2


  1. MacLysaght, Edward, Irish Families Their Names, Arms and Origins 4th Edition. Dublin: Irish Academic, 1982. Print. (ISBN 0-7165-2364-7)
  2. Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 3rd November 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/brothers


Houseofnames.com on Facebook