McCain
An Irish surname, usually understood as a form of Mac Eoin or a related Gaelic name meaning “son of John.”
The #1,888 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 16,222 Americans shares it.
Etymology
McCain is an Anglicized surname built on the Gaelic patronymic prefix Mac, meaning “son of,” plus a personal name that was often rendered as Eoin or a related form. In older surname scholarship, spellings such as MacKean, MacKane, MacKain, and MacCain are treated as members of the same broad Gaelic family. The name is commonly connected with “son of John,” though some historical spellings may reflect more than one Gaelic source-name in different families.
History
The surname is found in both Irish and Scottish records, where English spelling habits produced many variants. In later centuries McCain and its forms became established in North America through emigration from Ireland and Scotland. Modern bearers may descend from different Gaelic lineages that converged on similar Anglicized spellings.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Gaelic surname family can appear in records under several English spellings, so McCain, McKain, and McKean may be historical cousins rather than identical lines.
From the historical record
“triAC eAin, MacKean, MacKane, MacKain, MacCain, etc. triAC eAmoinn, IIIac ^Amuinn, MacAimon, MacEdmund ; Edmonds, Edmondson,”
— Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish names and surnames