MCPIKE
Recorded variant spellings include Mc Pike, Mcpike
McPike is a surname of Gaelic origin, primarily associated with Scotland and, to a lesser extent, Ireland. The name follows the patronymic tradition common to many Scottish surnames, signalling descent from an ancestor bearing a distinctive personal name.
The earliest recorded forms of the name derive from the Gaelic Mac Pheadair, meaning son of Peter. In Ireland an analogous form is MacPeice, translated as son of Peic; the personal name Peic is of uncertain derivation but is thought to have originated from the Old English peac, describing a thickset individual. An additional Irish Anglicisation points to Mac Peic, interpreted as son of Pike, where Pike is not a fish but a nickname or occupational reference to someone who used, or was associated with, the long spear of a soldier, or who dwelt near a sharp hilltop.
The first documented spelling that has survived to the present day is that of James McPeake (later recorded as McPike), dated 29 April 1719, in County Antrim, Ireland. He married Catharine Logan during the reign of King George I. A James M'Pike, likely born in Edinburgh around 1750, emigrated to Baltimore, United States, circa 1772. In Scotland, parish records include the marriage of Charles McPake and Ann Brannan on 14 November 1852 at Glasgow, Lanarkshire, and the birth of Thomas McPake on 3 November 1865 at Irvinestown, County Fermanagh. These entries confirm the existence and transmission of the name across both sides of the Atlantic during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Within the United Kingdom, the surname remains uncommon. The Office for National Statistics, in 2023, reported 733 individuals carrying the name, with concentrations in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the United States the Census Bureau recorded 2 134 people with the surname in 2019, many residing in the Midwest and Southern states. The surname is also documented under numerous orthographic variants—including M'Pike, M'Pyke, MacPike, Makepeace, Makie, McCaPee, McCauPey, MacKeppick and MacClap—all sharing a common Gaelic root and historical lineage.
Modern bearers of the name include individuals of note in the arts, such as musician Brent Gordon “BG” McPike, a guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer. Although contemporary figures may contribute to the name's visibility, the historical and genealogical records emphasize that McPike remains a surname of modest frequency, rooted in the Gaelic patronymic tradition of Scotland and Ireland.
Typical given names associated with the McPike surname
Male
- George
- James
- Jim
- John
- Kevin
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Robert
- Sean
- Thomas
- William
Female
- Alison
- Catherine
- Charlotte
- Christine
- Claire
- Elizabeth
- Gemma
- Margaret
- Marion
- Mary
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 McPike in...
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Morse
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Semaphore
There are approximately 298 people named McPike in the UK. That makes it one of Britain's least common surnames. Only around five in a million people in Britain are named McPike.
