Macklin
A surname usually treated as a form of MacLean or MacFlainn, meaning a descendant of Flann or a related Gaelic line.
The #4,927 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 43,242 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is generally connected with Gaelic Mac Fhlainn or Mac Flann, meaning “son of Flann,” where Flann is an old Gaelic personal name meaning “red” or “ruddy.” Some 19th-century writers also treated Macklin as an anglicized or altered form of MacLean/Mac Gillan in certain places, so the name has a few overlapping explanations in older scholarship. In England it could also be recorded as a shortened or altered spelling under English spelling habits.
History
The name appears in several British and Irish surname works as a Gaelic family name that was later anglicized in different spellings. Harrison specifically links it with Mac Flainn, while Lower also suggests a connection with Mac Lean or, alternatively, a Belgian place-name influence, showing that older authorities did not agree completely. The name is also found in Manx contexts, where related forms were recorded under local spellings.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books sometimes treated Macklin as a spelling cousin of MacGlynn, showing how fluid Gaelic names could look in English records.
From the historical record
“O.N. mikill + O.E. O.N. hosa\ MACKLIN (Celt.) an asp. form {Mac Fhlainn —fh mute) of Mac FlainHi Son of Flann : V. O'Flinn. MAC KNIGHT (Celt.) = Mac Naught, q.v. (A.-Celt.) Son of the Knight : v. Knight. MAC KOWEN for Mao Owen, q.v. MACKRELL, v. Mackarel.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)