MacNamara

Mac Conmara (anglicised as MacNamara or McNamara) is an Irish surname of a family of County Clare in Ireland. According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the MacNamaras were one of the chiefly families of the Dal gCais or Dalcassians who were a tribe of the Erainn who were the second wave of Celts to settle in Ireland between about 500 and 100 BC.

McNamara family
The McNamara family were an Irish clan claiming descent from the Dál gCais and, after the O'Briens, one of the most powerful families in the Kingdom of Thomond as Lords of Clancullen (a title later divided into East and West families). They are related to the O'Gradys, also descended from the Uí Caisin line of the Dál gCais.

The name began with the chieftain Cumara, of Maghadhair in county Clare. Cumara is a contracted form of Conmara – hound of the sea. His son, Domhnall, who died in 1099, adopted the surname Mac Conmara, or son of Cumara, thus becoming the first of his name. The name has survived relatively unmodified as MacConmara in Irish and anglicised as MacNamara/McNamara.

Naming conventions
The name is a contraction of "Mac Cú Na Mara" meaning "Son of the Hound of the Sea".

People with the name

 * Sioda Cam MacConmara rebuilt Quin Abbey where many members of this clan were subsequently laid to rest.
 * Donnchadh Ruadh Mac Conmara (1715–1810) was a Jacobite poet.
 * Sean Buidhe Mac Conmara (c. 1750 – 1836), more commonly known as John "Fireball" MacNamara, is remembered because of his daring exploits and his flair for the dramatic which has since featured in verse and in story.