What do the beginnings of Irish last names mean?

Question

Like the "O", "Mc", and "Mac"?

Are they scottish as well?

Answer 1

"O" means "descendant of", and "Mc" and "Mac" mean "son of".

"O" is not a characteristic prefix of names of Scottish origin, though it was used throughout the British Isles at one time, as testified by the town "John O'Groats", (founded by a Dutchman named John DeGroot).

The legendary English folk hero Robin Hood, not the least bit Scottish or Irish as far as I know, also was called Robert Of Locksley, and is likely to have been called "Robert O'Locksley" by some people, but in England "O" merely denoted the place people were from, not their ancestry.

The Scottish or Irish name "McDonald" indicates that the father's name was "Donald", but the Irish name "O'Sullivan" indicates that a man named Sullivan (Suil Ban, Gaelic for "Blue Eyes") was in the ancestral line somewhere, not necessarily the father. At least the American descendants of the Sullivans, the Donovans, and others usually drop the "O".

The legendary Irish folk hero and mythical giant slayer Finn McCool (Fionn Mac Cumhail) was the son of Cumhail, who, in turn, was the son of Trenmor. So Finn could with equal justice have called himself Finn O'Trenmor. ("Fionn" means fair of skin.)

It's irrelevant to your question, but fair skin and blue eyes are not now considered as unusual features of the Irish, and yet, among the swarthy, dark-eyed ancient Irish, these traits were unusual and distinctive enough to lead to people being named the Gaelic versions of the names "Blue Eyes" and "Fair Skin", which became the family names cited above.

These names evidently originated before massive Norse invasions and consequent Irish assimilation of the fair-haired, blue-eyed Norse genome.

Answer 2

O means descendant of. Mac, Mc, Fitz means son of. Mac and Mc are really the same beginning. Some families just dropped the a
Scots use Mac. Celts from Ireland migrated to Scotland. Scots and Irish are closely related. However, they had a different type of people in Ireland and Scotland before the coming of the Celts. Later some Scots were planted in Ulster by Queen Elizabeth and when their descendants came to the US, they called themself Scotch-Irish. Ireland was called Scotia at one time.

Answer 3

They denote either direct descent, or association with a particular lineage or group. O and Mc are usually considered Irish, while Mac is considered Scottish, so you can get McNeil, Mac Neil, O'Neil, McNeal, etc.. all claiming a connection to the old King Nial.

Answer 4

"Son of" a given Clan. Mc generally is Irish. Mac is generally Scots. But since migrations between these neighbor countries have been going on for hundreds of years one cannot tell with certainty by these. O' is as far as I can tell is strictly Irish from their form of Gaelic.

Answer 5

O- Old Irish as ua (grandson, descendent), the ancestor of
Mc- short version of Mac
Mac-son or son of
Not sure if they are also Scottish.

Answer 6

Mc or Mac are son of
O' means of

Answer 7

as in all celtic or the others it of for O and mc iOF and Mac is OF Mac donald Of the clan macdonald o the rourkes see or they place named the areas under their control

Answer 8

"O" was used as an equivalent for "of" .....Jane O' Neil which means "jane the daughter of Neil"......Mc is the same as Mac which means "the son of" how ever during the early times....the use of "mac" should be used for males only.... but when it was brought to different places entire the world....people often mis conceptualize what it meant... then females was then used for appeliation. which is no longer apllicable for males but now as unisexual.

Answer 9

Means of. Like, who their father is or where they come from. O'Dell - of the dell. O'Donnell - Ancestor named Donell.

Same in Italian with De and Di. Dipaolo, DePasquale.

Answer 10

I've read that the prefix fitz eventually came to mean "bastard son of" so Fitzwilliam means bastard son of william- totally hilarious...