McNamara MacNamara Mac Con Mara
McNamara arms
Parent house	Dál gCais
Country	Kingdom of Thomond
Founder	Cú Mara mac Domhnall
Titles	Marshal of Thomond Lord ofClancullen Lord ofBunratty
Cadet branches	McInerney McNamara Fionn

MacNamara orMcNamara (Irish:Mac Con Mara) is an Irish surname of a family ofCounty Clare in Ireland. According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the MacNamaras were one of the chiefly families of theDal gCais orDalcassians who were a tribe of theErainn who were the second wave of Celts to settle inIreland between about 500 and 100BC.^[1]

The McNamara family were anIrish clan claiming descent from theDál gCais and, after theO'Briens, one of the most powerful families in theKingdom of Thomond asLords of Clancullen (a title later divided into East and West families). They are related to theO'Gradys, also descended from the Uí Caisin line of the Dál gCais.

The name began with the chieftain Cumara, of Maghadhair in county Clare. Cumara is a contracted form of Conmara – hound of the sea. His son, Domhnall, who died in 1099, adopted the surname Mac Conmara, or son of Cumara, thus becoming the first of his name. The name has survived relatively unmodified as MacConmara in Irish and anglicised as MacNamara/McNamara.^[2]

The name is a contraction of "Mac Cú Na Mara" meaning "Son of the Hound of the Sea".^[3]

• Sioda Cam MacConmara rebuiltQuin Abbey where many members of this clan were subsequently laid to rest.
• Donnchadh Ruadh Mac Conmara (1715–1810) was aJacobitepoet.
• Sean Buidhe Mac Conmara (c. 1750 – 1836), more commonly known as John "Fireball" MacNamara,^[5] is remembered because of his daring exploits and his flair for the dramatic which has since featured in verse and in story.^[6]

• Namara
• Irish clans

• MacNamara at Library Ireland
• McNamara at Araltas

• Irish families
• Irish clans
• Surnames of Irish origin
• Anglicised Irish-language surnames

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• Use dmy dates from April 2022
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