McNamara is one of the great names of County Clare, the anglicised form of the Gaelic Mac Conmara — a name built from cú, meaning hound, and mara, meaning of the sea, together read as "hound of the sea." The family belongs to the Dalcassian stock of Thomond, the same broader kin group that produced the O'Brien kings descended from Brian Boru.
As lords of Clancullen in County Clare, the McNamaras ranked second only to the O'Briens among the families of Thomond, and they held the hereditary right to inaugurate each new O'Brien king — a role that placed them at the ceremonial heart of Thomond's political life for generations. Their power is written into the Clare landscape in stone: the McNamaras built numerous castles across the county, including the great tower house at Bunratty, one of Ireland's most visited medieval fortresses, and Knappogue Castle, another substantial McNamara stronghold that survives to this day.
Like the rest of Gaelic Clare, the McNamaras were affected by the Cromwellian and Williamite land settlements of the seventeenth century, and later by the Great Famine, which drove significant emigration from Clare toward Britain, North America, and Australia. The name remains strongly associated with County Clare today, even as it has spread across Ireland and throughout the diaspora over the past two centuries.
This collection — a Lords of Clancullion tartan throw, garden flag, coasters, mug, license plate, t-shirt, and ornament — celebrates that Thomond inheritance. For the full story of the McNamaras, Bunratty, and Clancullen, see our McNamara surname history.
