MCPHILLIPS
Recorded variant spellings include Mc Phillips, Mcphillips
McPhillips is a surname of Gaelic origin that is traditionally understood to be a patronymic, meaning it denotes descent from an ancestor whose given name was Philip. The prefix Mac or its anglicised form Mc translates as “son of” in the Gaelic language, so Mac Phílip or McPhillips literally means “son of Philip”.
The personal name Philip itself derives from the Greek Philippos, a compound of philein (“to love”) and hippos (“horse”), and is therefore interpreted as “lover of horses”. Consequently, the surname may also be regarded as a reference to a lineage associated with the qualities of courage and equestrianism that the original bearer of the name was thought to possess.
Historical records attest to the wide geographic spread of the name across the British Isles and continental Europe. Variants of the name testify to the phonetic adaptations that occurred as the surname was transcribed into different languages and dialects. These include but are not limited to Phillip, Phillips, Filip, Lippi, Filippeli, Filipichov, and Khilkov. Such diversity is documented in a range of medieval documents, from the German city of Worms in 1274 where Wernherus Philippi is recorded, to the English county of Norfolk in 1275 where Henry Philip appears in the Hundred Rolls.
Within Ireland, the surname is most commonly associated with the counties of Monaghan and Fermanagh in the north. There the name is believed to have initially been MacPhilbin, that is, “son of Philbin”, with Philbin representing a diminutive of Philip and literally meaning “little Philip”. Other Irish septs, such as those situated in the provinces of Connacht and Ulster, also utilised the patronymic form to indicate descent from a noted Philip. Over time the spelling has been modified through anglicisation, producing variants such as McPhillips, McPhilips, and MacPhilips.
Throughout the early modern period, the surname spread beyond its original localities with waves of migration to the colonies. Today it can be found in significant numbers throughout the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, reflecting the movements of the Irish diaspora. In these regions the surname has often retained its original form, though local pronunciation and spelling sometimes differ slightly, as with MacPhillips in Scotland or McPhilips in Canada.
While the core meaning of McPhillips remains the same – indicating descent from an individual named Philip – the surname has accrued a range of orthographic variations that reflect historical changes in language, migration, and record keeping. These variations are significant when tracing genealogical records or studying the sociolinguistic development of surnames within the Gaelic tradition.
Typical given names associated with the McPhillips surname
Male
- Anthony
- David
- James
- John
- Michael
- Patrick
- Paul
- Peter
- Stephen
- Thomas
Female
- Barbara
- Catherine
- Elizabeth
- Helen
- Karen
- Kathleen
- Laura
- Lisa
- Margaret
- Mary
- Nicola
- Yvonne
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 McPhillips in...
Braille
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Morse
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There are approximately 1,208 people named McPhillips in the UK. That makes it roughly the 6,397th most common surname in Britain. Around 19 in a million people in Britain are named McPhillips.
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 McPhillips
- Terry McPhillips - Football player and manager
- Richie McPhillips - Politician from Northern Ireland
- Bill McPhillips - Scottish football player (1910 to 1992)
- Paul McPhillips - Snooker player
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.