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~More Research~
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The Meaning Of Ferguson:
FERGUS, Ferris, Ferguson
The name Ó Farghuis or Ó Fearghusa takes several forms in English. Apart from Farrissy, which today occurs only occasionally, the two usual forms are Fergus and Ferris. Fergus or O'Fergus is seldom found outside Connacht. Persons so called, who are mainly in Co. Mayo at the present time, are of the sept of Ó Fearghuis, which provided hereditary physicians to the O'Malleys. Knox in his History of Mayo tells us that O'Fergus held the parish of Burrishoole in 1303 and ranked then as a minor chief, a status no longer obtaining in 1585, since they do not figure in the Composition Book of Connacht, though it is known the Strafford Survey that they were still considerable landholders in Burrishoole and.Carra about the year 1635. In that document the name is spelt Farregish, Faregesie and O'Farressie, while in the Mayo Book of Survey & Distribution, compiled some 50 years later, it occured as often as O'Farrissy. It was in the northern end of that county, adjacent to Co. Sligo, that Petty's "census" shows them, as O'Fergussa, most numerous in 1659. In the Fiants of the previous century they appear mainly in Co. Sligo. In the form of O'Fergus or O'Fargus it occurs there only once - at Spiddal, Co. Galway. Ferris (alias O'Farris etc.) is more numerous both in the old records and today than Fergus. The name Ferris is now numerous in north-east Ulster where it is that of a branch of the Scottish clan Ferguson - Fairy and even O'Ferry have been used as synonyms of it there Ferris is also well known in Kerry. There were 27 families of Ferris in the 191 1 census of Co. Kerry and the name was there at least as early as 1586. It occured five times in the diocesan wills of Ardfert and Aghadoe in the eighteenth century. The amazing and chequered career of Richard Ferris (1750-1828), ex-priest, spy, politician and business man, his brother, Edward Ferris (1738-1809), was a distinguished priest who, after many vicissitudes in France and Rome, became the first president of Maynooth College; another Edward Ferris, was also a political agent in France, all three were from Tralee.. Others of note were the exile Father Cormac O'Fergus, who came to Cork from Lisbon in 1571 and, while preaching at Clonmel, was captured and thrown into prison; the two O'Fearghusas of the O'Naghten poetic circle about 1725; and Dr. Fergus the well known patron of Gaelic learning at the same time. The late Bishop of Achonry and secretary to the hierarchy was Dr. James Fergus. O'Farys etc., was also in Co. Wexford in 1659 and is still there, but as Vargus and Vargis, until quite recently used interchangeably with Ferguson. Ferguson, of course, is itself a Scottish name and is numerous in the north-eastern counties of Ireland, whence came Sir Samuel Ferguson (1810-1886), one of the best poets of the Irish literary renaissance and founder of the Protestant Repeal Association. There was also a Norman name occurring occasionally in mediaeval records which must not be confused with O'Farys: Mgr. de Farys was canon of St. Patrick's Cathedral in 1302. Carrickfergus in Co. Antrim is said to have been named after Fergus mac Roigh, the "Red Branch" hero of the Táin and reputed ancestor of several Ulster septs. Fergus Mac Erc, Prince of Dalriada in north Antrim, who in A.D. 470 crossed to Scotland and founded the Gaelic kingdom there.
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