Find out how popular the last name Mahony is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Mahony.
Anglicized form of the Irish surname "Ó Mathghamhna," meaning "descendant of Mathghamhain," derived from "math" (bear) and "gamhain" (calf).
Mahony, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Mahony surname is from the 2010 census data.
Mahony is the 14965th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Mahony surname appeared 1,976 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Mahony.
We can also compare 2010 data for Mahony to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.
| 2010 | 2000 | Change (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 14965 | 14449 | 3.51% |
| Count | 1,976 | 1,895 | 4.18% |
| Proportion per 100k | 0.67 | 0.70 | -4.38% |
The surname MAHONY is an anglicized version of the Irish name Ó Mathghamhna, which originated in County Cork, Ireland. The name derives from the old Irish word "mathghamhan," meaning "bear-calf" or "descendant of the bear."
In its earliest forms, the name was spelled Ó Mathghamhna or Ó Mahúna, reflecting the pronunciation of the Irish language. As the name spread to English-speaking areas, it evolved into various spellings such as Mahony, Mahoney, and Mahon.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name can be found in the Annals of Inisfallen, an Irish chronicle dating back to the 12th century. The annals mention a member of the Ó Mathghamhna family as early as 1135 AD.
The name MAHONY has been associated with several notable individuals throughout history. One of the most prominent was Daniel Mahony (1650-1714), an Irish Jacobite and soldier who served in the armies of James II and later fought in the War of the Spanish Succession.
Another notable figure was Francis Sylvester Mahony (1804-1866), an Irish writer and journalist who wrote under the pen name "Father Prout." He is best known for his work "The Reliques of Father Prout," which satirized various literary and political figures of the time.
In the 19th century, Charles Mahony (1800-1891) was an Irish-born Australian politician and explorer. He played a significant role in the exploration and settlement of the Australian state of Victoria and served as the first Speaker of the Legislative Council of Victoria.
The name MAHONY has also been associated with religious figures, such as Michael Mahony (1824-1892), an Irish-born Catholic priest who served as the first Bishop of Armidale in Australia, and John Mahony (1785-1866), an Irish Roman Catholic bishop who served as the Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh in Ireland.
Additionally, the name has been linked to various place names in Ireland, such as Mahonbrook, a townland in County Cork, and Mahon Falls, a waterfall located near the town of Killarney, also in County Cork.
We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Mahony.
The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:
For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Mahony was:
| Race/Ethnicity | Percentage | Total Occurrences |
|---|---|---|
| Non-Hispanic White Only | 94.99% | 1,877 |
| Non-Hispanic Black Only | (S)% | (S) |
| Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only | 0.71% | 14 |
| Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native | (S)% | (S) |
| Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races | 1.87% | 37 |
| Hispanic Origin | 1.62% | 32 |
Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.
Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Mahony has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.
| 2010 | 2000 | Change (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 94.99% | 94.51% | 0.51% |
| Black | (S)% | (S)% | (S)% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.71% | 1.16% | -48.13% |
| American Indian and Alaskan Native | (S)% | (S)% | (S)% |
| Two or More Races | 1.87% | 1.79% | 4.37% |
| Hispanic | 1.62% | 1.90% | -15.91% |
The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.
The history and meaning of the name Mahony was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.
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