Meagher
An Irish surname most often treated as a form of Maher, ultimately from an older Gaelic personal name.
The #5,951 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 53,379 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally taken as an Anglicized form of the Irish name O'Meagher / O'Maher, with the same family group often appearing in records as Maher, Meagher, or Meager. The underlying Gaelic personal name is usually linked to a byname whose exact older meaning is not always settled in the 19th-century sources, so older dictionaries often cross-reference it rather than explain it fully. In short, Meagher is a traditional Irish family name that developed through English spelling of a Gaelic original.
History
The name is strongly associated with Ireland, especially counties in Munster, and historical works regularly connect it with Tipperary. In Irish and Anglo-Irish records it often appears alongside Maher as a spelling variant rather than a wholly separate surname. In the United States the spelling Meagher became established through Irish immigration, though it remains much less common than Maher.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century surname dictionaries often treat Meagher and Maher as close variants and cross-reference them rather than giving separate origins.
From the historical record
“MEGHAN I MEAGHER I Sneak, Petty Thief [E.M.E, MEECHEr] muchare, later mycher, micher] M EACOCK (Eng.) Effeminate Man,Coward, Milksop [prob. f. O.E. mckg, woman, ' maiden ; with the E. pet suff. -cock] Shee found fault with him because he was a meacocke and a milkesoppe.^-”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)