Origin of the name McGough
The following information is from Eddie Geoghegan.
GOUGH, MacGEOUGH
Gough, formerly pronounced Goch, is now called Goff and often so spelt. There are two Irish septs whose name has sometimes been anglicized as Gough. 0 Cuachain, of the Hy Fiachrach group and located in Mayo, is one, formerly O'Cowhane, O'Quohane etc., now obsolete as such and rare as Gough. The other is Mag Eothach, Mag Eochach or Mag Eochadha, which is said to be one of the many branches of the great MacKeogh sept: it is now found as MacGeough, MacGeogh and MacGoff in counties Armagh, Monaghan and Louth, and seventeenth century records indicate that this was also the case at that period.
The great majority of Goughs in Ireland, however, are of Welsh origin. Families called Coch (coch is the Welsh work for red or
ruddy) came to Ireland in the thirteenth century, settled mainly in Dublin and Waterford and have been identified with those counties since - in the former principally as merchants, in the latter as administrators and landed gentry.
In 1329 Henry Goghe, of a family already in Munster, obtained a grant of land and houses at Dungarvan; and west Waterford has since been the homeland of many Gough families. In 1607 Sir James Gough purchased the Kilmanahan Castle estate from Sir E. Fitton, to whom it had been granted in 1586 after the Desmond rebellion, thus further consolidating their position in Co. Waterford. They were also in the city of Waterford: Nicholas Gough was mayor in 1435 and 1441 and Sir Edward Gough was mayor in 1660. Sir James Gough was one of the Catholic M.P.s imprisoned by James I. In 1641 the Goughs were listed with the Ronans, the Coppingers and the Fitzgeralds as the leading families of Youghal. Alderman Edward Gough was M.P. for that town in 1634 and 1639, and another Alderman Edward Gough was its member in the Parliament of 1689. In the nineteenth century the Goughs of Munster were chiefly notable as high-ranking officers in the British army: one of these, Field-marshal Hugh Gough (1779 - 1869), was created a viscount in 1849. These were of a Wiltshire family which came to Co. Limerick in the seventeenth century and are now resident at Lough Cutra, near Gort, Co. Galway. One, however, of quite different type, was Wexford-born John William Goff (1847-1924), a noted jurist in America,whose connection with the Fenian organization - not always harmonious - is elucidated in the Devoy correspondence. (Devoy's Post Bag is a valuable source of information on matters relating to Fenianism and the I.R.B. and the people who participated in those movements.)
It is worth mentioning in relation to this surname, the practice of anglication and regaelicisation of names. In the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the British government insisted that all civil records be recorded in English, which resulted in the wholesale anglicisation of Irish surnames. Further pressure resulted in the dropping of the gaelic prefixes Mac (Mc, Mag, etc.) and O. At the beginning of the twentieth century, under the growing influence of the Gaelic League, a general reversal of this process began to be perceptible, at least to the point that the old prefixes began to be used again. The extent of this resumption can be easily illustrated by the mere fact that in 1890 there were twice as many Connells as O'Connells. Today we have nine O'Connells for every Connell. This resumption of gaelic prefixes also occurred with great regularity among the emigrant Irish as they asserted their Irishness. However, it must be said that in many cases, the "resumed" prefix may have been in error and there is no doubt that many bearing the
name McGough today are descended from the Welsh family of Gough rather than the gaelic-Irish Mag Eothach, Mag Eochach or Mag Eochadha. Gough, 0 Cuachain, Mag Eothach, Goch, Mac Geogh, Goff, Coch
Many of the name of Gough in Ireland are actually of Welsh origin. The name is found in Ireland as early as the 1200's, settled in Waterford and Dublin. Most of these are of Welsh heritage, and are found as merchants and administrators of the day. The name has also been used as a synonym with Mac Geogh. Two Irish origins exist to explain the name as well. The ancient family of 0' Cuachain, originally of Mayo, and now all but extinct, and the family of Mag Eothach (Mac Keogh Sept).
Spelled as Gough the name is found in 1659 as a principal name of Waterford, in 1890 it is found in Dublin and Wexford, and Milesian families finds the name to be an English one, settling in Wexford and Roscommon in 1643. As McGough the name is found as a principal one of county Monaghan in 1659, and in the last century in county Mayo. At least two of the name served as mayors of Waterford in the 15th and 17th centuries. The name is also cited as that of a leading family of Youghal. In the last century several of the name in Ireland, from the province of Munster, are found as British army officers. The name is also tied to the 'rebel' cause, earlier in Irish history. Sir James Gough - purchased Kilmanahan Castle estate (of Waterford). Nicholas Gough - Mayor of Waterford in 1435 and 1441. Sir Edward Gough - Mayor of Waterford in 1660.
For completeness information relating to (Mac)KEOGH, Kehoe is included. Keogh, including Kehoe and MacKeogh, almost equally common forms of the same Irish surname - Mac Eochaidh - just misses a place in the hundred most numerous names in Ireland. It is chiefly found in the province of Leinster, the spelling Kehoe being usual in Co. Wexford. The present Irish spelling of this name is MacEochaibh. Formerly in Munster it was MagCeoch or MacCeoch which was retained while Gaelic survived there as the vernacular. Outside Leinster MacKeoghs are mainly located in the neighbourhood of Limerick: the place name Ballmackeogh is in Co. Tipperary a few miles from that city. This was the homeland of one of the three distinct septs of MacKeoghs. The second was in the Ui Maine group. Their eponymous ancestor was Eochaidh O'Kelly; they were lords of Magh Finn and their territory of Moyfinn in the barony of Athlone, Co. Roscommon, long known as Keogh's Country, was popularly so-called even in quite recent times. The place Keoghville in the parish of Taghmaconnell took its name from them. The third and historically the most important sept were the MacKeoghs of Leinster. These are of the same stock as the O'Byrnes and were hereditary bards to that great family. With them they migrated in early mediaeval times from north Kildare to Co. Wicklow, whence they spread later to Co. Wexford. The Four Masters describe Maolmuire MacKeogh as chief professor of poetry in Leinster in 1534, and several fine poets of the name are cited by Doug1as Hyde in his Literary History of Ireland. In a different field of literature two eighteenth century Protestant clergymen called Keogh are remembered: John Keogh (1653-1725), as a mathematician and another John Keogh (1681-1754), as a botanist and zoologist. In the political sphere Keoghs have produced three notable figures the third of whom, however, sheds no lustre on the name: Matthew Keogh (1744-1798), hanged for his prominent part in the 1798 Insurrection; John Keogh (1740-1817), Catholic leader in the depressed days before O'Connell; and William Keogh (1817-1878), M.P. and judge, and associate of the swindler Sadlier - of whom the less said the better. Mention should also be made of Capt. Myles Walter Keogh (1840-1876), a distinguished officer of the Federal Army in the American Civil War, who lost his life in the memorable battle of Little Bighorn in the Indian war in which the only survivor on his side was Keogh's horse.
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