Irish surname search
(O)CAREY (Mac) KEIGHRY
The Gaelic surname Mac Fhiachra is described as almost extinct. This is true so far as its earlier and phonetic anglicizations Keaghry, Keighry and Keahery are concerned, few families so called are now extant, though they are known in east Galway and the neighbourhood of Athlone. It would seem that the Co. Galway sept of Mac Fhiachra survives in considerable numbers, under the alias of Carey. At the same time it should be noted that Carey has been adopted as the anglicized form of several other Irish surnames; The majority of the numerous families called Carey belong to the 0 Ciardha sept of the southern Ui Néill, which was originally located in south Ulster and north Leinster, not to that of Mac Fhiachra. This probably applies to some extent also to the Mac Fhiachra sept of the Cinel Fearadaigh (of the northern U~i N6dl) who were still called MacKeaghery, also MacGeaghery, in the seventeenth century, as the Hearth Money Rolls attest. An Armagh Inquisition taken in 1444 before Primate Mey found one Nemeas MacKeaghery, to be the rightful heir to the lands commonly called the lands of MacKeaghery.