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From a list of the most common Scottish surnames:

Rank Name Occurrence

9 MacDonald 980

26 McDonald 632

41 MacKenzie 496
42 MacKay 488

45 MacLeod 483
46 McLean 477

57 McKenzie 373

67 McMillan 352
68 Mcintosh 350

82 McGregor 297
83 McKay 293

92 MacLean 273

94 Mcintyre 256

Only 13 of the top 100 are Mc or Mac and of those there are more Mc than Mac. MacDonald is more common than McDonald but it is relatively close.

1OfLBsMerryMen wrote:

NellyLunatic1980 wrote:

Jeemie wrote:As usual, when I see threads with a plethora of MMs in them, I wonder how many of them are the same person talking to him(her)self.

If you knew who was who, you would know who was talking to himself or herself. I know who's who, but I'll never tell.

OK, who am I smartypants?

Scarily neon?

1OfLBsMerryMen wrote:

NellyLunatic1980 wrote:

Jeemie wrote:As usual, when I see threads with a plethora of MMs in them, I wonder how many of them are the same person talking to him(her)self.

If you knew who was who, you would know who was talking to himself or herself. I know who's who, but I'll never tell.

OK, who am I smartypants?

Even we know the answer to this...

1OfLBsMerryMen wrote:

NellyLunatic1980 wrote:

Jeemie wrote:As usual, when I see threads with a plethora of MMs in them, I wonder how many of them are the same person talking to him(her)self.

If you knew who was who, you would know who was talking to himself or herself. I know who's who, but I'll never tell.

OK, who am I smartypants?

You are--

WE ARE EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES. PLEASE STAND BY.

From a list of the 100 most common Irish surnames:


3 O'Sullivan

6 O'Brien

9 O'Connor
10 O'Neill
11 O'Reilly

13 McCarthy

15 O'Doherty

21 McLoughlin
22 O'Carroll

25 O'Connell

35 O'Farrell

43 O'Callaghan
44 O'Donnell

46 O'Mahony

49 O'Shea

55 McGrath

62 O'Leary
63 McDonnell
64 MacMahon

88 MacKenna

92 O'Keeffe

94 MacNamara
95 MacDonald
96 MacDermott

98 O'Rourke

100 O'Dwyer


9 Mc and Macs in Ireland with Mac slightly more common at least on this list. Blown away by O's but those are still only 17 of the top 100 surnames.

Annie or Molly wrote:

1OfLBsMerryMen wrote:

NellyLunatic1980 wrote: If you knew who was who, you would know who was talking to himself or herself. I know who's who, but I'll never tell.

OK, who am I smartypants?

Even we know the answer to this...

Hey girls! Want some good tips on how to drive your parents nuts?

MinisKidToBeNamedLater wrote:

Annie or Molly wrote:

1OfLBsMerryMen wrote:
OK, who am I smartypants?

Even we know the answer to this...

Hey girls! Want some good tips on how to drive your parents nuts?

No thanks, we're the webmaster for the site driveyourparentscarzy.org (note the misspelling). If you wanna join the site, you can add your list there, though.

andrewjackson wrote:From a list of the most common Scottish surnames:

Rank Name Occurrence

9 MacDonald 980

26 McDonald 632

41 MacKenzie 496
42 MacKay 488

45 MacLeod 483
46 McLean 477

57 McKenzie 373

67 McMillan 352
68 Mcintosh 350

82 McGregor 297
83 McKay 293

92 MacLean 273

94 Mcintyre 256

Only 13 of the top 100 are Mc or Mac and of those there are more Mc than Mac. MacDonald is more common than McDonald but it is relatively close.

No MacInnes (or McGinnis, as my family spelled it)? Mc & Mac were used interchangeably, and the name means
Sons of Angus. I am the proud owner of a Clan MacInnes Tartan hair scrunchie, and my brothers have MacInnes Tartan neckties. Somewhere in the family there's a MacInnes Tartan afghan, but I'm not sure who has it right now.

Me (awful pic, self-taken obviously!) wearing the scrunchie:


All these Mc's, Mac's & O's -- what about "FitzWhatevername...."? Contrary to rumor, Fitz does not necessarily mean "Bastard Son of Whoever....!" It's from the Norman French "fils." The prefix was used so often for illegitimate sons of kings & princes (FitzRoy, etc.) that it has taken on that connotation.

Mc/Mac/Fitz = Son of....
O' = Grandson or descendant of.....

VAdame wrote:
All these Mc's, Mac's & O's -- what about "FitzWhatevername...."? Contrary to rumor, Fitz does not necessarily mean "Bastard Son of Whoever....!" It's from the Norman French "fils." The prefix was used so often for illegitimate sons of kings & princes (FitzRoy, etc.) that it has taken on that connotation.

Mc/Mac/Fitz = Son of....
O' = Grandson or descendant of.....

I didn't pull out the Fitz's but here they are from the Irish list.

36 Fitzgerald

61 Fitzpatrick

None on the Scottish list. I have no idea how accurate these lists are.

I didn't pull out the Fitz's but here they are from the Irish list.

Wiki mentions that the original Fitz's were Anglo-Normans who settled in Ireland. They may have adopted the patronymic naming system they found there (all those Mc's, Mac's & O's.) I guess the Normans didn't really really make as many inroads into Scotland "The trouble with Scotland is: it's full of Scots!" [/Longshanks] So, no FitzAngus's among Clan MacInnes!

The English Fitz's really were "Bastard sons of the king" -- Fitzroy, Fitzjames, Fitzclarence, etc. Those names came along somewhat later than the Normans.

Fitzpatrick has a rather weird history. Related to, of all things, Magillacuddy!