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MCCOY Family History

Recorded as McCoy and sometimes McKoy, this interesting surname is of Irish, Scottish and Manx origins. It is a developed form of the Old Gaelic Mac Aodha, meaning the son of Fire, originally the name of a Celtic pagan god. The McCoys came to Ireland as gallowglasses, their home territory being the Isel of Man and the southern isles of Scotland such as Islay. In Ireland the surname is chiefly found in the Counties of Armagh and Monaghan with a sprinkling in County Limerick and even far away in Cork. The name dates back to the late 11th Century (see below), and it is said that there are at least fifteen forms of the name including: McCoy, Mckay, McKoy, McKey, McKee McCay, McKie, and even McGee, although this is disputed by some researchers...