MCMULLEN
Recorded variant spellings include Mc Mullen, Mcmullen
The surname McMullen is a Gaelic name of Irish origin, derived from the personal name Mac Maoláin which translates literally as “son of Maolán”.
The element Maolán is a diminutive of Maol, a word meaning “bald” or “tonsured”. In ancient Ireland the term was frequently applied to a person who had taken religious vows or who was closely associated with the church, so that the name originally signified a descendant of a religious devotee or a person recognisable for a shaved head.
In the early medieval record the name appears in a number of spellings, including McMullan, McMullen, Mullan, Mullen, Mullens, O’Mullan and the Scottish form MacMillan. A 1263 act of the Parliament of Scotland records a juror named Gillemor MacMolan, and a 1454 document lists John MacMulan as bailie of Glasgow. Sir Duncan MacMolane is mentioned in 1452 as a papal knight or seneschal.
During the seventeenth century the Plantation of Ulster brought many bearers of the name from the Scottish mainland to the counties of Antrim and Down. The McMullens settled in these areas, adopting the Scottish spelling MacMillan in some families.
In Ireland the sept O’Mullan is traditionally linked to County Galway and to a six‑century king of Connacht named Maollan; although the origin of the name is the same, the lines are not directly related. In 1729 a rebel named Shane Crosagh O’Mullan of Derry was evicted from his estate and fled to the mountains, becoming a local folk‑hero before being captured.
In 1734 the daughter of Alexander McMullen was christened Ann at Saintfield in County Down, a record that confirms the presence of the name in that county during the eighteenth century.
Today the surname is widespread across Ireland, Scotland and the diaspora, with significant populations in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Within the United States it is most frequently encountered in California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio, but the name remains particularly common in the British Isles where it has retained a historical presence since the early medieval period.
Variations of the spelling – such as MacMullin, McMullin, MacMullan, McMillen and the truncated forms Mullen and Millen – reflect the diverse phonetic and orthographic traditions of the regions where the name was recorded.
Typical given names associated with the McMullen surname
Male
- Anthony
- David
- James
- John
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Robert
- Stephen
- Thomas
- William
Female
- Angela
- Catherine
- Charlotte
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Gillian
- Joanne
- Julie
- Karen
- Margaret
- Maria
- Mary
- Rosemary
- Sarah
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
- Macmullen
- MacMillen
- Macmullan
- Mackmillan
- Macmillan
- Macmillian
- Macmillin
- Macmillon
- Macmull
- Macmullin
- Mccmillan
- Mcmalion
- Mcmallan
- Mcmallian
- Mcmallin
- Mcmalon
- Mcmellan
- Mcmellen
- Mcmellin
- Mcmellon
- Mcmilan
- Mcmilian
- Mcmillan
- Mcmillen
- Mcmillian
- Mcmillin
- Mcmillion
- Mcmillon
- Mcmulen
- Mcmullan
- Mcmulland
- Mcmullens
- Mcmullin
- Mcmullins
- Mcmullon
- Mcmully
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname McMullen in...
Braille
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Morse
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There are approximately 3,621 people named McMullen in the UK. That makes it roughly the 2,543rd most common surname in Britain. Around 56 in a million people in Britain are named McMullen.
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 McMullen
- Darren McMullen - Scottish television and radio presenter and personality
- Jack McMullen - Actor
- Ken McMullen - Film director
- Peter McMullen - Mathematician
- Ian McMullen - Football player
- John McMullen - First bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, USA. (1832 to 1883)
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.