Gortahurk derives its name from the IrishGort an Choirce meaning "field of the oats". Two of the earliest recordings of this townland however—GortyIchorchy (1609) and Gort Okorte (1613)—suggest that the scribe felt that the final element of the name Gortahurk was a surname. This is testified by the use of the capital I in GortyIchorchy and the capital O in Okorte, both of which represent the Irish surname prefix Ui. Despite this no suitable surname is attested to in any of the major works on Irish surnames.[2]
^Northern Ireland Environment Agency. "NIEA Map Viewer". Archived from the original on 24 November 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
^ abcToner, Gregory: Place-Names of Northern Ireland, page 123-124. Queen's University of Belfast, 1996, ISBN0-85389-613-5
^ abNotes on the Place Names of the Parishes and Townlands of the County of Londonderry, 1925, Alfred Moore Munn, Clerk of the Crown and Peace of the City and County of Londonderry