The McGuinness Surname

Magennis - Mag Aonghusa

Includes the various spellings of the McGinnis name. (Guinness McGenis MacGinnis MacGuinness MacInnes)

MacAonghusa comes from the personal name, Aonghus, which means one choice - hardly applicable to their name, as they have at least sixteen different ways of spelling it!

This prominent Irish family is recorded as far back as the fifth century, the time of St. Patrick, and their descendants have been both illustrious and notorious. At one time the Magennis clansman were the Lords of Iveagh in County Down. In the nineteenth century, this ancient title was adopted by the internationally famous Guinness family of brewers, since which time the head of the firm has been an Earl of Iveagh. Iveagh House in Saint Stephen's Green, Dublin, the fine headquarters of the Department of Foreign Affairs, was just one of the many gifts to the nation made by this philanthropic family. "Uncle Arthur" is Dublin's nickname for the firm of Arthur Guinness which, since 1759, has been making the black porter that has made the family millionaires.

There were many Magennis fortresses in Ulster, most of which were destroyed following the Anglo-Norman invasion in the twelfth century. The castle at Rathfriland, near Newry, was destroyed by the Cromwellians, but there are remains of their twelfth-century fortress at Dundrum.

In the sixteenth century, Sir Conn Magennis and his wife ransacked Newry and horribly ill-treated its Protestant inhabitants. Also in the sixteenth century, in complete contrast, there were two worthy bishops, Arthur Magennis and Hugo Magennis (d. 1640). The family has had a long succession of bishops, both Catholic and Protestant, but Arthur managed to be both at the same time!

In the eighteenth century, following the exodus of many exiled Irish, many Magennis soldiers served with distinction in the armies of France, Austria, and Spain.

Charles Donagh Magennis (1867-1955), who was trained as an architect in Dublin, built many fine churches, schools and colleges in the USA, and also designed the bronze doors of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

Viscount Elveden, a Guinness heir, was killed in the Second World War. The only Northern Ireland man to win a Victoria Cross in the Second World War was leading Leading Seaman James Magennis, was ceremoniously honoured in Bradford, where he died in 1986. Also in Northern Ireland, Ken Magennis is the Ulster Unionist Party spokesman on security.

The Magennis armorial shield shows a yellow lion on a green field with the red hand of Ulster on top.

from The DICTIONARY of Irish Family Names by Ida Grehan, Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1997.

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