This interesting name is of Medieval Irish origin and is also recorded as MacEntee, and MacGinty. The derivation if from the Gaelic 'Mac an tSaoi' translating as 'the son of the scholar', the Irish word saoi is used to denote a scholar or simply a cultured person. The MacEntees were always located in Oriel, the variants Macety, MacIntie, and MacAtee, and were recorded in the Chancery Rolls, Fiants, Hearth, Money and other 16th and 17th Centuries records especially in Counties Monaghan and Armagh. MacGinty, and MacEntee have been confused, as the former is a Donegal surname and does not appear in the 1659 'census' or in the Elizabethan Fiants. McKinty is also recorded in Aberdeen, Scotland. One Edward McKinty married Margaret Hall on March 20th 1846 at Island Magee, Antrim. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Patrick McKinty, which was dated January 1794, Carnmoney, Antrim, during the reign of King George 111, 'Farmer George', 1760-1820. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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