Guinness (surname)

This map of Gaelic Ireland shows the territory of the Ulaidh or the Kingdom of Ulidia circa 900 A.D.

The English-language surnames, Guinness, McGuinness, McGinness, McGinniss, and McGinnis are Anglicizations of the Irish surname Mag Aonghuis (pronounced [ˈmˠaɡ ˈiːŋɣəʃ]), which means in English “son of Aonghus (Angus)”. The English language Magennis surname is an even earlier Anglicization of the Irish Mag Aonghuis surname. The McGuinness were a dynasty that ruled in Gaelic Ireland’s Ulidia (kingdom). The McGuinness chiefs ruled in the area of the Kingdom of Ulidia, that is now western County Down in Northern Ireland.^[1][2]

Notable people

• Arthur Guinness (1725–1803), founder of Guinness beer
• Guinness family, prominent descendants of Arthur Guinness (1725–1803) and his brother Samuel Guinness (1727–1795)
  • Guinness baronets
• Arthur Guinness (New Zealand politician) (1846-1913)
• Alec Guinness (1914–2000), British actor
• Bunny Guinness, landscape architect and broadcaster
• Daphne Guinness (born 1967), artist
• Humphrey Patrick Guinness (1902–1986), British polo player
• Jasmine Guinness (born 1976), model and designer
• Kenelm Lee Guinness (1887–1937), racing driver and spark plug manufacturer
• Matthew Guinness (born 1940), British actor
• Os Guinness (born 1941), author

References

1. Dictionary of American Family Names P. Hanks ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2003) Vol. 2 G-N pp 554-555 ISBN 0-19-508137-4
2. John O'Hart, Irish Pedigrees; or, The Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation, 5th edition, in two volumes, originally published in Dublin in 1892, reprinted, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1976, Vol. 1, p 819