List of Scottish Gaelic surnames

This list of Scottish Gaelic surnames shows Scottish Gaelic surnames beside their English language equivalent.


 * Unlike English surnames (but in the same way as Slavic, Lithuanian and Latvian surnames), all of these have male and female forms depending on the bearer, e.g. all Mac- names become Nic- if the person is female.
 * Some of the Scottish Gaelic surnames are Gaelicised forms of English surnames; and conversely, some of the English surnames are Anglicised forms of the Gaelic surnames.
 * In some cases the Gaelic and English names do not share an etymological origin.
 * Several surnames have multiple spellings; this is sometimes due to unrelated families bearing the same surname.
 * A single surname in either language may have multiple translations in the other.
 * In some English translations of the names, the M(a)c- prefix may be omitted in the English, e.g. Bain vs MacBain, Cowan vs MacCowan, Ritchie vs MacRitchie. Also, the prefixes Mac- and Mc- are interchangeable, although individuals may have a preference as to which form is used in their own surname.

Surname list
Note that certain names may appear multiple times on this list; use the 'find' or 'search' function in your web browser to quickly look up certain names.

Mac-
Mac- (son of) is by far the most common element in Scottish Gaelic surnames.

Print references

 * (Proper names - appendix)