Mac

Mac   Mc, or M' [Irish,=son], element in names derived from Irish and Scottish Gaelic patronymics. In most of these names the second element was a forename (e.g., Macdonald, in various spellings). Other names included titles or epithets (e.g., McIntosh [son of the chief]). Notions that some forms of the prefix are more typically Scottish or Irish are fallacious. Some of the names, however, have typical local distribution; thus, McLeod is Hebridean, McSweeney is especially Irish. See O ; name .

mac, mac- [Ir., ScG, son, son of]. First word of early Irish and Scottish Gaelic patronymics, e.g. Conchobar mac Nessa. When the mac- is lower- case, the patronymic is not a family name: Conchobar is not ‘Mr mac Nessa’. Such figures are alphabetized under their given names, ‘C’ for Conchobar. Mac- is capitalized in two instances: (1) when it is the first element in the only name by which a personage is known, e.g. Mac Cécht; (2) when patronymics became family names under English influence, e.g. Macpherson. See also AP-; FAB; MAB-; UA; UÍ; VAB-.