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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).