MacGhee

This famous Gaelic surname recorded in the various spellings of Magee, MacGee, Mc Gee, MacGhee, McGoey, McGahy, Mogey, Moggy, Moggie, MacGhie, and possibly others, is Manx, Irish, and Scottish. It derives from "Mag", an early spelling of "Mac", indicating "son of ", plus the personal byname "Aodh" meaning "Fire", originally the name of a pagan god. The Irish nameholders belonged primarily to Ulster and their original territory lay on the borders of counties Donegal and Tyrone. It is interesting to note that the large neck of land on the east of Lough Larne in County Antrim is called Island Magee indicating that this territory was at one time in the possession of the Magees. The earliest recorded Scottish namebearer was one Gilmighel MacEthe of Dumfries, who rendered homage to King Edward Ist of England n 1296. Other recordings taken from authentic rolls and charters include Michael MacGhethe who was a juror on an inquisition in Annandale in 1304 and Michael Magy who was recorded in Orkney in 1424. Agnis Muggye was married at Templemore, Derry, in 1649, and Alexander Moggy was christened at Ballymoney, Antrim, on October 20th 1831.The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Teag MacGee, "a chief of the sept", which was dated circa 1000a.d. in the "Early Medieval Records of County Westmeath". This was during the reign of King Brian Boru, "High King of Ireland", 1002 - 1014. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.