McGough
An Irish surname, usually understood as a form related to Gaelic names beginning with Mac and a root meaning “smith” or a similar personal name element.
The #6,574 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 59,951 Americans shares it.
Etymology
McGough is an Anglicized Irish surname. The historical forms cited in older sources link it to Gaelic spellings such as MacGeough and Magough, showing that the name was rendered in several different ways in English. The exact Gaelic source is not fully secure from the excerpts alone, but it is treated as an Irish Mac-name rather than an English occupational surname.
History
The name is found in Irish surname lists and appears in multiple spellings in 19th- and early-20th-century scholarship, which suggests a long-standing Irish use and later standardization in English as McGough. In modern records it is comparatively uncommon, but it survives in Ireland and among diaspora families, especially in North America. Older authors often grouped it with related Mac- forms that could vary widely in spelling from parish to parish and clerk to clerk.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older Irish surname books often list McGough alongside a whole cluster of spelling variants, reflecting how fluid Irish names were when written in English.
From the historical record
“niAS Coc^-OA, MacGeough, Ma- geogh, Magough, MacGough, MacGoff, Gough, Gofl, etc. triAs eocAgAin, Mageoghegan, MacGeoghegan, MacGoogan, MacGuigan, MacGuiggan,”
— Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish names and surnames