How Common - McGuire?

Just how common is the surname McGuire?  Well, in most of the U.S. you do find the name in any city directory.  While it may not be the most common name ever in California, we are around here.  Now, let's travel back in time to Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, New York circa 1880.  The name was certainly there.  Let's cross the bridge into Brooklyn for that same time period.  GOOD LORD!   How many  McGuire's were living in Brooklyn?  Were they all related to each other?   That name was pretty common at least in part of Brooklyn.

Now, I won't get into location details because I'm just not the best with the geography of Brooklyn circa 1880-1900.  Let's just say there were "a lot" of people living there.  Isn't that an understatement and compare it to today.

So, how lost am I on my McGuire line in New York City.  And, yes, let's just pull in all of the five boroughs of New York City to make it all fair and good.  I don't want to lose any ground right now but I might just get lost walking those streets.  Where's the subway home?

In my past, I could probably manage to navigate lower Manhattan to the subway which would go to Jamaica and then bus it to Franklin Square.  Yes, I just bypassed Brooklyn all together and often wonder if I have truly ever set foot there.  I guess I've driven past/through it and been to Coney Island as a tyke.  I often find great humor when comparing Jamaica, Queens to the island of Jamaica.  They have so little, yet so much in common.  Ocho Rios, Jamaica, v. Jamaica, Queens?  I could pass on both anytime in my future and wish that I could wipe them from my past.

Back to those McGuire's, they evade me as do my Romaine's.  Oh, wait a minute, that's all the same side of my family.  At times the search seems dismal.  I really think church records would be my only solution.  That darn church in Brooklyn never did call me back.  My gut tells me that trapped somewhere in their records is my family line.  From St. Louis Catholic church that closed and records rolled to St. Lucy's that closed, to St. Lucy's-St. Patrick's who have all of those church records, I believe that I'd find so much of what I seek.

Can someone go there and find out for me?  I don't know what else to say.  It's probably a daunting task but I don't live nearby Brooklyn and am not sure when I might get there.

End rant....Now, onto some real as can be McGuire research.