Macdara

Macdara is an Irish first name that originates from a Christian saint, Macdara, who lived off the western coast of Ireland on a remote island over 1,500 years ago. His own first name was Sinach. According to a 1999 article in the New York Times, St. Macdara’s Island "was home in the sixth century to St. Macdara, Connemara's most respected saint, who built a one-room chapel here" which is "considered one of the finest early Christian oratories in Ireland".[1]

St. Macdara’s Island

Today in Ireland, the name Macdara is quite rare as a first name.[2] One of the most prominent modern uses of the name is a second-level school located in the south of Dublin city named St Mac Dara's College.[3]

The spelling of the name has a number of different variations including Macdarragh and Macdarra. Mac is Irish for Son and Dara is Irish for Oak so the literal translation of Macdara is Son of Oak. A new innovation without historic pedigree is for the name to be spelled as one word with a capital "D" as in MacDara.

People

Notes
  1. Daryln Brewer Hoffstot, "Where Legends Outnumber People", New York Times, 1 August 1999
  2. Central Statistics Office Baby Names of Ireland
  3. St. Mac Dara’s College website
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