Meaning in a name

Northern Ireland and Eire

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Chris Paton
Posts: 433
Joined: Sun Jan 14, 2007 9:14 pm

Post by Chris Paton » Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:55 pm

Aaaghhh!!!! :) :lol: The whole Mc for Ireland and Mac for Scotland thing is a complete myth, so please ignore that! It is simply not true.

In fact, O' for grandson does have a Scots Gaelic equivalent, the word is "ogha" here in Scotland, and means 'grandchild' and is pronounced "oh-a". It's just the way it developed here that people stuck with Mac with surnames.

Chris
Tha an lasair nad anam aig meadhan do bhith
Nas làidir 's nas motha na riaghaltas no rìgh.
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Ina
Global Moderator
Posts: 1367
Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 6:46 am
Location: California,originally from Greenock.

Post by Ina » Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:57 pm

Hi Chris,

I've been told that they all started out as Mac, and that some just removed the "a" and became Mc. Any truth to this, or is this just another fairytale?

Ina
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Chris Paton
Posts: 433
Joined: Sun Jan 14, 2007 9:14 pm

Post by Chris Paton » Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:03 pm

Hi Ina,

That's pretty much it. 'Mac' is Gaelic for 'son', Mc is just a contraction, as is M' etc. And that's all there is to it!

Chris
Tha an lasair nad anam aig meadhan do bhith
Nas làidir 's nas motha na riaghaltas no rìgh.
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