17,336 Global DURKIN Family Members

DURKIN Family History

This interesting surname, with variant spellings Durcan, Durkan, and the rarer forms Gurkin and Zorkin, is an Anglicized form of the Old Gaelic Mac Duarcain or O Duarcain. The Gaelic prefix "Mac" means "son of", and "O", "male descendant of", plus the personal byname Duarcain, a diminutive of "duairc", morose or gloomy, and originally used to describe a pessimistic person. This surname is particularly widespread in the Province of Connacht and especially in Counties Mayo and Sligo where it is recorded from the early 13th Century, (see below).