MacCarthy Family Crest, Coat of Arms & MacCarthy Name Origin

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Origin of the Name MacCarthy

The ancient history of the name MacCarthy was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. The famous Irish surnames of McCarthy, McCarty and Carthy are derived from the Carthach who was Lord of Eoghannacht in the eleventh century and who was killed by the Lonergans in the year 1045. The McCarthys were great builders of castles, the remains of such are to be found all over Munster province. The most famous of these is Blarney Castle where lived Cormac MacCarthy, whose evasive answers to Queen Elizabeth's letters demanding his submission roused her to call his protestations 'blarney'. So started the legend of kissing the Blarney stone. The MacCarthy Mor sept was located in County Kerry and on the death of the last senior line in 1773 the estates passed to Herbert de Kilcow. Their beautiful Muckross estate, located near Killarney in County Kerry, is now the property of the Irish nation.