Is Cormack a nickname

[crayspond]

Hi All,

I am looking at my Irish side - again ! I have a Cormack Flannigan and wondered if this is a nickname or was it a proper first name ?

Ailsa

[Hibee]

Hi Ailsa

It's a first name, fairly common in Ireland.

Hibee

[crayspond]

Thanks Hibee,

Actually looking at the certificate i think it is actually Cormick not Cormack. Not many are coming up on Rootsireland but even less when i put in Margaret Lynch who was his wife. Do you think Cormick is a proper first name?

Ailsa

[Elwyn 1]

Ailsa,

If you go to the 1901 Irish census and search on Cormick, Cormic, Cormac & Cormack as forenames, you'll get a total of about 300. So it wasn't the most common but it was in regular use as a proper forename.


Elwyn

[Roving Lad]

Hi Ailsa,
As Elwyn has pointed out, Cormack can have a variation of spellings.
I've got a Cormac Gallagher born in Ireland, however on his daughters mariage certificate in Scotland, he's Cormick Gallacher.

Roving Lad.

[crayspond]

Thanks for the replies,
why i asked was his (Cormick) son James turns up in Glasgow on the 1881 census - birthplace Ireland. James' wife Ann Cairnan dies in 1882. I never found a marriage cert for them in Glasgow so i am assuming they were married in Ireland.
Cormick is on James' death cert in 1898 Gorbals father Cormick Flannigan and mother Margaret Lynch.
I did find a sister to James Flannigan - Elizabeth Passmore who died in 1910 in Dennistoun. However it says father Anthony Flannigan mother Margaret Lynch (unless her son was not aware of his real name). This is why i thought maybe Cormick was a nickname for Anthony. Still confused.

Ailsa

[Elwyn 1]

I have never come across Cormac as an alternative for Anthony and would think it a more likely mistake by the informant for Elizabeth’s death. That sort of mistake was very common, particularly when the informant had never met or known the parent. No verification was required so it was very easy for incorrect information to be recorded, without any sinister intention.

I assume Cormick Flanagan and Margaret Lynch’s marriage was RC and took place before 1864. Therefore it won’t be in the statutory records in Ireland. It may be in the parish records but these are not all on-line, and that would be the most obvious reason why you cannot find it.