Macdara

Macdara is an Irish first name that originates from a Christian saint, Macdara, who lived off the western coast of Ireland on a remote island over 1,500 years ago. His own first name was Sinach. According to a 1999 article in the New York Times, St. MacDara's Island "was home in the sixth century to St. Macdara, Connemara's most respected saint, who built a one-room chapel here" which is "considered one of the finest early Christian oratories in Ireland".[1]

Today in Ireland, the name Macdara is quite rare as a first name. One of the most prominent modern uses of the name is a second level school located in the south of Dublin city named St Mac Dara's College.

The spelling of the name has a number of different variations including Macdarragh and Macdarra. Mac is Irish for Son and Dara is Irish for Oak so the literal translation of Macdara is Son of Oak. It is also commonly spelled with a capital "D" as in MacDara.