Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Fun fact: "Mac" is the original Irish surname prefix meaning "son of," and "Mc" is the Anglicized form. McDonald = Son of Donald. As is usual, Irish names are patronymic meaning they're relating to the male's lineage. A daughter would be "Nic" (daughter of the son of) and wife "Mhic" (wife of the son of).

Then why so few "Nic"s and "Mhic"s? The Anglicized form isn't so particular about gender, so females use "Mac/Mc."

The "O'" prefix as in "O'Donnell" means "descendant of," along with its female variants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_name



What's funny now is that in Northern Ireland (not too sure about down south) we tend to read "Mc" as probably Irish and "Mac" as Scottish.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: