MacLeod

This article is about the surname. For other uses, see MacLeod (disambiguation).
MacLeod
Pronunciation /məˈkld/
Gender Unisex
Language(s) English
Origin
Language(s) 1. Scottish Gaelic
2. Irish
3. Irish
Various others across British Empire (e.g. Cree language)
Word/Name 1. MacLeòid
2. Mac Leóid
3. Mac Giolla Mochadha
Other names
Variant(s) Macleod, McLeod, M‘Leod
Families
Clan MacLeod, Clan MacLeod of Lewis

MacLeod and McLeod /məˈkld/[1] are surnames in the English language. Variant forms of the names are Macleod and M‘Leod.

Generally, the names are considered to be Anglicised forms of the Scottish Gaelic MacLeòid, meaning "son of Leòd".[2][3] However, in some cases the names can also be Anglicised forms of the Irish Mac Leóid. Another origin for the name, according to late 19th-century Irish genealogist John O'Hart, is from the Irish Mac Giolla Mochadha (commonly Anglicised as MacGillicudy).[4]

One of the earliest occurrences of the surname is of Gillandres MacLeod, in 1227.[2] There are two recognised Scottish clans with the surname: Clan MacLeod of Harris and Skye, and Clan MacLeod of Lewis and Raasay. The earliest record of these two families, using a form of the surname MacLeod, occurs in the mid 14th century.

There are also documented cases of Scottish missionaries in Canada using McLeod as an "Anglicisation" of the indigenous Cree language name Mahkiyoc (meaning "the big one"), which accounts for its occurrence amongst Canadian people of Cree heritage.[5]

People with the surname MacLeod, McLeod

People with the given name Macleod, Mcleod, MacLeod

Fictional characters with the surnames MacLeod or McLeod

Similar names

References

  1. Macleod, Dictionary.com, retrieved 6 December 2010 which cited: Dictionary.com Unabridged, Random House
  2. 1 2 Reaney, Percy Hilde; Wilson, Richard Middlewood (2006), A Dictionary of English Surnames (3rd ed.), London: Routledge, p. 2054, ISBN 0-203-99355-1 Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
  3. Black, George Fraser (1946), The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning, and History, New York: New York Public Library, pp. 538, 933
  4. O'Hart, John (1892), Irish pedigrees; or, The origin and stem of the Irish nation, 1 (5 ed.), James Duffy and Co., p. 146
  5. McLead, Neal. (2000), "Plains Cree Identity: Borderlands, Ambiguous Genealogies and Narrative Irony" (PDF), The Canadian Journal of Native Studies, XX (2), retrieved 2013-04-18
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