2007-02-27 01:28:01 · 4 answers · asked by ackinalitr 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
You mean Mc and Mac? In Gaelic, which is the root of Irish, Welsh and Scottish, it denotes the father. Patrick Mc Millan, Patrick son of Millan...or clan, Dennis Mac Leod....of the clan of ......sometimes the Mac, in Scottish denotes both...the "father of the clan"...in other words, its an ancestry.... also, these prefixes were added to nicknames and occupations, as in MacWard, son of the bard.. Mc is distinctively Irish and Mac Scottish.
2007-02-27 01:41:16 · answer #1 · answered by aidan402 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
top o' the day to you!! I am half Irish and I did know that O' and Mc preceding a surname implies family membership. I am also one-quarter Norwegian, where names such as Hanson implies "son of Hans" and Peterson means "son of Peter" Some surnames also imply placenames- for instance "Fjeld" means mountain, so anyone with part of that surname likely had family in a mountainous part of Norway. I'm sure the same stands for Irish surnames as well. My mothers maiden name was "Malone" Not sure of the origin, other than it's Irish.
2016-03-16 01:37:59 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mc & Mac mean "son of" in Irish and Scottish gaelic respectively.
2007-02-27 01:30:35 · answer #3 · answered by bonshui 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Nothing. It's just their name. I think usually that anybody with "Mc" or "O'" before their name is of Irish decent. It sounds stereotypical, but that's the case for every person with one of those in the front of their name that I've met.
2007-02-27 01:31:11 · answer #4 · answered by Maxie D 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋