MCENTEE
Recorded variant spellings include Mc Entee, Mcentee
McEntee is a surname of Irish origin, deriving from the Gaelic name Mac an tSaoi. The prefix Mac translates as “son of”, while an tSaoi means “the scholar”. Consequently the name denotes descent from a learned or scholarly family, indicating that the original bearers were associated with intellectual pursuit or academic standing.
The surname belongs to the Celtic peoples of the British Isles, particularly to Ireland where it is tied to Christian communities. Its formation follows the tradition of patronymic naming, a practice common in Gaelic culture where a person's name reflects the name of a parent.
In early Irish history, the term saoi referred to a learned scholar or wise man. The McEntee clan is recorded as one of the families descended from these early learned people. Over centuries the name has been recorded in a wide variety of spellings, including MacGinty, Ginty, Genty and Ginity. All of these are anglicised forms of the same original Gaelic name.
Documentary evidence places the surname in the 16th and 17th centuries under spellings such as MacEntee, MacEtye, MacYntie and MacAtee. These records are especially abundant in the counties of Armagh and Monaghan, where the name was well established.
Following the influx of Scottish Protestants from 1640 onwards, many bearers of the name moved westward, settling in what are now the modern counties of Donegal, Tyrone and Fermanagh. In Mayo the surname often appears without the Mac prefix. The geographical shift reflects broader demographic changes within Ulster during that period.
During the Great Famine (1846‑1851) several individuals bearing the name fled Ireland. James McGinty and his wife Ann departed from Derry aboard the ship Thomas to Liverpool on 11 May 1846. Their passage is recorded as part of the larger emigration wave from Ireland to the British Isles and abroad.
The earliest clearly documented holder of the name was Teag MacEntee, listed in the Petty’s Census of Ireland for 1659, during the Protectorate of Richard Cromwell. This census provides the first reliable record of the surname in written form.
In subsequent centuries the surname made its way into communities outside of Ireland. The McEntee name is found among the Irish diaspora in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Australia, where many families retained the name and continued to trace their lineage to Ulster and neighbouring counties.
Variants of the surname that preserve its Gaelic roots are numerous and include McEntea, McEntegart, M'Intee, M'Entee and M'Antee. The breadth of spellings illustrates how the original form was adapted phonetically by English record‑keepers over time.
Today the surname is most commonly found in County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland, though it remains recognized across the island, particularly in Ulster. While not among the most densely populated Irish surnames, McEntee has gained worldwide recognition through decades of migration and the enduring significance of its scholarly heritage.
Typical given names associated with the McEntee surname
Male
- Anthony
- Edward
- James
- John
- Kevin
- Michael
- Patrick
- Paul
- Peter
- Roy
- Sean
- Shane
- Thomas
Female
- Claire
- Denise
- Emma
- Gaynor
- Helen
- Karen
- Kathleen
- Kelly
- Linda
- Margaret
- Martine
- Mary
- Patricia
- Sarah
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname McEntee in...
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There are approximately 960 people named McEntee in the UK. That makes it roughly the 7,598th most common surname in Britain. Around 15 in a million people in Britain are named McEntee.
Surname type: From name of parent
Origin: Celtic
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: Ireland
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: Gaelic
Famous people named McEntee
- John McEntee - Gaelic football player
- Valentine McEntee, 1st Baron McEntee - Politician (1871 to 1953)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.