Maher, Meagher, ó Meachair,
A Gaelic surname meaning descendant of Meachar, which personal name meant ‘fine, majestic’. This sept were lords of Uí Cairín, now the barony of Ikerrin in north Tipperary. They were related to the ó Cearbhaill of Eile. They resided at Druim Sailech, where now stands the castle of Moydrum, about five miles south of Roscrea. With the Cambro-Norman invasion they became subject to the Earls of Ormond. In 1890 Maher was the eighty-seventh most numerous surname, the estimated number of bearers was 9,000 and was chiefly found in Tipperary, Dublin and Kilkenny. In the United States Maher is the 1,798th most numerous surname with an estimated 19,250 bearers.