Guinness

also McGuinness, Magennis, Mag Aonghusa

Earls of Iveagh, brewers and statesmen since 1759.

Origin: Leinster, Ireland
Motto: Spes mea in Deo
Famous bearer: Arthur Guinness (1725-1803), founder of the brewery at St James's Gate
Register: Irish family

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Territory of Guinness

CoreHistoric reach

The seat of Guinness

Seat vacant

Chief

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Current mission

No shared goal set yet. Once Guinness has leadership, it sets the public focus: a restoration, a gathering, a real-world project that helps its own.

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Motto

Spes mea in Deo

“My hope is in God”

What does the Guinness name mean?

The history of Guinness

The Gaelic Mag Aonghusa or Magennis kindred ruled the territory of Iveagh in modern County Down from the 12th century into the 17th, the senior chiefs styled Lords of Iveagh through the early 17th century. Family tradition traces the modern Guinness line to a cadet branch of that house; the peerage choice of 'Iveagh' in 1891 explicitly affirmed the connection.

Arthur Guinness (1725-1803) leased the four-acre St James's Gate brewery in Dublin in 1759 on a 9,000-year lease for £45 a year, and within a generation built the family business into the largest brewery in Ireland. By the early 19th century Guinness porter had displaced the imported English ales across most of the Irish market; by the 1880s St James's Gate was the largest single brewery in the world.

Edward Cecil Guinness (1847-1927), Arthur's great-grandson, took the brewery public on the London Stock Exchange in 1886 in what was then the largest IPO in history, and was created 1st Earl of Iveagh in 1891. At his death in 1927 he was the wealthiest man in Britain. His philanthropy paid for the restoration of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, the Iveagh Trust housing schemes in Dublin and London, the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, and the gift of Kenwood House in Hampstead to the nation.

The Guinness political branch ran through Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne, who served as Colonial Secretary in the wartime cabinet of Winston Churchill, and through his Moyne descendants. The senior brewing line carries the current 4th Earl of Iveagh, who returned the family seat at Elveden Hall in Suffolk to active estate management. Guinness Brewery merged with United Distillers in 1997 to form Diageo, the world's largest spirits company; the Guinness family retains a substantial holding.

Champions of the Guinness name

The bearers whose lives are inseparable from this surname. Each has their own page, biography, achievements, geography, connection to the family.

Arthur Guinness
The Kildare brewer who in 1759 took a nine-thousand-year lease on a four-acre Dublin yard and built from it the largest brewery in the world.

Historic Places, Rebuilt

Explore the streets and seats the Guinness name knew, rebuilt with AI as they stood in history.

Or recreate your own castle →

Historic Places, Rebuilt · New

Explore Dublin in 1756Enter →

Georgian Dublin in the year of Rocque's great map, College Green, the Liberties' weavers, the Liffey quays and Christ Church.

Castles the Guinness held

Strongholds this name held for a decade or more, look one up, or rebuild it to explore.

Ashford Castle, County Mayo
Bought by Sir Benjamin Guinness in 1852 and expanded by his son, Lord Ardilaun.
Luttrellstown Castle
Held by the Guinness family before passing to the Primwest Group.
Hay Castle
Sold to the banker Benjamin Guinness in 1937.
Dundrum Castle
The Magennis clan managed Dundrum from some point after 1333. The castle is sometimes called "Magennis Castle".
Narrow Water Castle
The Magennis family built the tower house and bawn at Narrow Water in the 1560s, replacing the earlier Norman keep.

The castles of the homeland

The great strongholds of the homeland, look one up, see what it looked like in its prime, and recreate it to explore.

Ashford Castle, County MayoRestored · prime 1880

Manderley CastleRestored · prime 1840

Dublin CastleRestored · prime 1790

All castles in Ireland → · Strongest castles in Ireland → · Castles of Europe

Play As Your Clan

Explore history as a GuinnessStart your story →

Hold a real castle against whatever you choose to send at it, take a ship out in her own service years, or stand at the shoulder of someone the record remembers. The chronicler sets the scene; the deeds are yours.

Notable bearers of the Guinness name

Arthur Guinness (1725-1803), founder of the brewery at St James's Gate
Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, 1st Baronet (1798-1868), restorer of St Patrick's Cathedral
Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh (1847-1927), the wealthiest man in Britain at his death
Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne (1880-1944), Colonial Secretary
Edward Guinness, 4th Earl of Iveagh, current head of the senior line

Stories of Guinness

The nine-thousand-year lease at St James's Gate
1759
On the afternoon of Monday the thirty-first of December 1759, in the small office of the Earl of Meath's land-agent in Dublin Castle Yard, Arthur Guinness, thirty-four years old, the Celbridge-born small-brewer of Leixlip in County Kildare, signed the lease that has been universally remembered ever since as the longest single commercial lease in the history of Irish-and-British property law: nine thousand years at forty-five pounds the year, for a small, derelict, four-acre brewery and yard at St James's Gate on the western edge of Dublin. The St James's Gate brewery had been disused for almost a decade; the previous brewer, William Rainsford of the Meath estate, had gone bankrupt in 1750. Guinness took the lease on the strength of a hundred-pound legacy from his godfather Archbishop Arthur Price of Cashel and a small loan from his elder brother Richard. He brewed his first cask of ale at St James's Gate the following spring. He committed in 1799, after forty years of brewing-and-export experiment, to the dark porter beer that would carry his name and would become, within a single generation, the standard against which every stout in Britain and Ireland was measured. The brewery has been in continuous Guinness-and-Diageo operation since the first cask of 1760 and is by every modern measure the oldest single continuously-operating brewing site in the world. The original 1759 nine-thousand-year lease is preserved at the brewery; the harp of Brian Boru that Arthur's grandson Benjamin put on the bottle label in 1862 is on the coinage of the Irish Republic.
Read the story →

Frequently asked

What does the surname Guinness mean?

From the Gaelic 'Mag Aonghusa', son of Aonghus, anglicised over time as Magennis, McGuinness, and Guinness. The family of brewers and Earls of Iveagh trace their senior line to the Magennis chiefs of Iveagh in County Down, the Gaelic kindred from whom the family's modern peerage takes its name. The Gaelic Mag Aonghusa or Magennis kindred ruled the territory of Iveagh in modern County Down from the 12th century into the 17th, the senior chiefs styled Lords of Iveagh through the early 17th century.

Where does the Guinness family come from?

The Guinness family is rooted in Leinster, in Ireland. Within that, the name was particularly concentrated in Dublin. The atlas page for the name records the historical territory it has held over the centuries.

Where did the Guinness family historically hold territory?

At its greatest historical extent, the Guinness name has been concentrated in Down. The atlas page distinguishes the core territory of the name from this wider historical reach with hatched silhouettes on the map.

Is Guinness Irish or Scottish?

Guinness is a Irish surname; its home on this atlas is Ireland, where the historical territory and family record of the name are concentrated. The same or similar spellings can surface in Scottish records, but the lineage documented on this page is the Irish one.

How old is the Guinness surname?

The Gaelic Mag Aonghusa or Magennis kindred ruled the territory of Iveagh in modern County Down from the 12th century into the 17th, the senior chiefs styled Lords of Iveagh through the early 17th century. European hereditary surnames crystallised broadly between the 12th and 14th centuries, and the Guinness name took its modern form within that long settlement.

What is the Guinness family known for?

Earls of Iveagh, brewers and statesmen since 1759. The Gaelic Mag Aonghusa or Magennis kindred ruled the territory of Iveagh in modern County Down from the 12th century into the 17th, the senior chiefs styled Lords of Iveagh through the early 17th century.

What is the Guinness motto?

The motto of the Guinness family is "Spes mea in Deo", which translates as "My hope is in God". Family mottoes were registered with the chief of the name and carried on the heraldic arms and battle-banners.

What does "Spes mea in Deo" mean in English?

"Spes mea in Deo" is the motto of the Guinness family. In English it means "My hope is in God". The phrase is typically rendered in Latin, though some Highland families carry their motto in Gaelic and some Norman lines in Old French.

Is there a Guinness family crest or coat of arms?

There is no single coat of arms that belongs to everyone named Guinness. Heraldic arms were granted to individuals and descend through specific documented lines, so a "family crest" matched to a surname alone is decorative rather than genealogical. The motto associated with the principal line is "Spes mea in Deo".

Who is the most famous Guinness?

The best-known bearer of the Guinness name is Arthur Guinness (1725-1803), founder of the brewery at St James's Gate. Other prominent figures of the family include Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, 1st Baronet (1798-1868), restorer of St Patrick's Cathedral, Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh (1847-1927), the wealthiest man in Britain at his death and Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne (1880-1944), Colonial Secretary.

Who are some famous Guinnesses?

Notable bearers of the Guinness name include Arthur Guinness (1725-1803), founder of the brewery at St James's Gate, Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, 1st Baronet (1798-1868), restorer of St Patrick's Cathedral, Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh (1847-1927), the wealthiest man in Britain at his death, Walter Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne (1880-1944), Colonial Secretary and Edward Guinness, 4th Earl of Iveagh, current head of the senior line. Each is profiled on the family page, with cross-links to the geography, stories, and historical events tied to their life.

What stories are told about the Guinness family?

The Guinness family is associated with The nine-thousand-year lease at St James's Gate. Each story has its own page on this site with the full account, the date, the location, and the other families involved.

What is the story of the nine-thousand-year lease at St James's Gate?

On the afternoon of Monday the thirty-first of December 1759, in the small office of the Earl of Meath's land-agent in Dublin Castle Yard, Arthur Guinness, thirty-four years old, the Celbridge-born small-brewer of Leixlip in County Kildare, signed the lease that has been universally remembered ever since as the longest single commercial lease in the history of Irish-and-British property law: nine thousand years at forty-five pounds the year, for a small, derelict, four-acre brewery and yard at St James's Gate on the western edge of Dublin. The St James's Gate brewery had been disused for almost a decade; the previous brewer, William Rainsford of the Meath estate, had gone bankrupt in 1750. The event is dated to 1759.

Is McGuinness the same family as Guinness?

Yes. McGuinness is a historical spelling variant of the Guinness name. The two share the same lineage and family affiliation; different parishes, clerks and migration registrars recorded the same name in slightly different forms, and the variant spellings sit on the same family tree.

Is Magennis the same family as Guinness?

Yes. Magennis is a historical spelling variant of the Guinness name. The two share the same lineage and family affiliation; different parishes, clerks and migration registrars recorded the same name in slightly different forms, and the variant spellings sit on the same family tree.

Is Mag Aonghusa the same family as Guinness?

Yes. Mag Aonghusa is a historical spelling variant of the Guinness name. The two share the same lineage and family affiliation; different parishes, clerks and migration registrars recorded the same name in slightly different forms, and the variant spellings sit on the same family tree.

Where is the Guinness surname found today?

Ireland is the primary historical home of the Guinness surname. In the modern era, the name is also borne across the wider diaspora, particularly in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where families carry the line of descent from the same Ireland origin recorded on this page.

What does the Clan Rising page for the Guinness family cover?

The Clan Rising page for the Guinness family covers the meaning of the surname, the historical geography of the name, the family motto, famous bearers of the name, traditional stories and the seat of the head of the family. Each section is linked to the underlying atlas of Ireland so the name can be read in the geography that shaped it.

Who is the head of the Guinness family today?

The seat for the head of the Guinness family is currently vacant on this register. Clan Rising is rebuilding the chief and family structure for the modern era, and the family page allows readers to claim the seat or pledge to the name.