The Irish surname Quirk is an anglicized form of the Gaelic O'Cuirc. The prefix "O" signifies "grandson of" or "descendant" and indicates the patronymic origin of the surname, while the Gaelic "cuirc" simply means "heart". The principal territory of this sept has been given as Munster and the surname belongs particularly to Co. Tipperary where, before the Anglo-Norman invasion in 1169, the family O'Quirke ruled over a considerable territory in the barony of Clanwilliam in southwest Tipperary.  An early instance of the surname in its early form was a robber called Murchad O'Curk who was sheltered by the Archbishop of Cashel in 1295. The surname was a frequent name in medievel Ireland in the south and there are numerous references to the surname in the "Tipperary Hearth Money Rolls" (1664-1666). During the seventeenth century, however, the surname was prevalent in some western regions due primarily to the Cromwellian Plantation in 1649 where there is mention of two O'Quirkes from Co. Galway.

There are also records of Quirke's fighting in the Ormond army in 1649, and also in the Irish army in the 1670's. The etymology of the surname depended on the area in which the surname originated, for although the surname is derived primarily from Ireland as Quirk(e), it also appears in some instances as Manx in origin (having the same derivation as the Gaelic form of the surname) and in England the surname is known as Kirk or Kirke. A notable bearer of the surname was the Dominican Father  Thomas O'Quirke, a priest who was chaplain-in-ordinary to the Supreme Council of the Confederation of Kilkenny in the early 1640's. Evidence of the existance of the surname in America is substantiated by the "Philadelphia Directory" of 1885 which included thirty-three entries of this surname. A variant of this surname is MacGurk.

Blazon of Arms:     Argent, a chevron between three boar's heads erased sable.

Crest:                      A boar's head erect and erased sable.

Origin:                    IRELAND