McCaffrey
An Irish surname usually taken as a form of MacCaffrey, meaning “son of Caffrey” or “son of Gaffrey,” with the original Gaelic name uncertain in detail.
The #4,339 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 37,739 Americans shares it.
Etymology
McCaffrey is an Anglicized Irish surname, commonly treated as a spelling variant of MacCaffrey, MacCaffery, and related forms. The prefix Mac means “son of,” while the second element is generally taken to reflect an older Gaelic personal name behind Caffrey/Gaffrey, though the exact original form is not securely settled in the sources. In practice, the name is usually explained as a patronymic built from that older byname or personal name.
History
The surname is found in Ireland in several closely related spellings, and nineteenth-century surname lists often group McCaffrey with MacCafferty, McCaffery, and McCaffray as part of the same family cluster. It is especially associated with Irish usage, though the spelling McCaffrey became fixed in English records in various places. The historical sources here do not settle a single unquestionable root form, so the name is best treated as one of several Anglicized Irish Mac- surnames with overlapping spellings.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname indexes often file McCaffrey alongside a whole run of near-identical spellings, which shows how fluid Irish surnames were when first written in English records.
From the historical record
“Cudden, Muckedan. rriAC CApt^Ai-6, MacCaffrey, Mac Caffery, Caffrey, Caffery, etc. rriAC CAiLin, MacCallion, Mac Callan, MacCallen ; Campbell.”
— Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish names and surnames