MCGUIRK Family History

This interesting surname with variant spellings McGurk, is the Anglicized form of the Gaelic "Mag Coirc", son of (Mac) Coirc, a patronymic from the personal name "Corc", heart, or "Mag Oirc", son of orc, a patronymic from the personal name "Orc", meaning a fabulous monster, whale, the latter is the Scots-Gaelic origin of the name while the former is the Gaelic-Irish source. In Scotland, the name was first recorded in the late 13th Century (see below). Morthan MacKorc is mentioned in the inhibition by the bishop of Glasgow directed against Malcolm, Earl of Lennox in 1294.