The original Gaelic form of McCarthy was MacCarthaigh, it is a patronymic name meaning "son of Carthy".
Unfortunately for family historians, it is one of the most common Irish surnames especially in County Cork. James McCarthy bn abt 1844 came from Glenmire in County Cork, it is almost certain that he and his family emigrated to south Wales because of the potato famine. My McCarthys finished up in the Tredegar/Bedwellty area in the 1850s where they probably worked in the ironworks. James was an iron puddler in a number of censuses, a very dangerous job working with molten metal.
The 1881 census shows that McCarthys could be found mainly in South Wales reflecting the fact that they migrated from Southern Ireland. Quite a few could be found in Liverpool as well.
1881 shows that there were 288 McCarthys per million, this had almost doubled (564) by 1998.
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