Garvey
An Irish surname usually linked to a Gaelic nickname meaning “the warlike one.”
The #3,196 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 27,306 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is generally taken from Irish Gaelic Garbh/garbhe, a word meaning “rough,” “rugged,” or by extension “warlike.” Older surname writers often treated Garvey as a descendant of a Gaelic personal name or nickname of that sense, rather than from an occupation or place. It is also associated in the sources with forms such as MacGarvey and other Gaelic spellings that reflect the same root.
History
Nineteenth-century Irish surname writers connect the family with ancient Irish lineages, though the exact genealogical details are not secure. The name is well established in Ireland and later appears in Scottish and other anglophone records as Irish migration spread the surname abroad. Spellings and related forms vary in older sources, including Garvie and MacGarvey.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books sometimes glossed the name as “the warlike,” showing how readily Gaelic nicknames were turned into family surnames.
From the historical record
“which has still owners of the same name. GARVEY. The Irish family deduce themselves from the ancient monarchs of that island, through Garbhe or Garvey, that is " The Warlike,"' Prince of Morisk, co. j\Iayo, in the ^Y. cent. B.L.G. GARVIE. See Garvey. GAR WAY. GARRAWAY. A parish in CO. Hereford. GASCOIGNE. GASCOYNE.…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom