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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Irish : Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Mathghamhna, a patronymic from the byname Mathghamhain meaning ‘good calf’. This was the name of two (unrelated) chieftain families in counties Clare and Monaghan. In northern Ireland it is sometimes Anglicized as Matthews, since Matha was the Irish form of the Biblical name.

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