McCalla
A Scottish and Irish surname usually understood as a form of MacCalla, often explained as “son of Calla” or linked to a Gaelic descriptive byname.
The #9,745 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 92,828 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually treated as a Gaelic name beginning with Mac or Mc, meaning “son of.” The second element is less certain: some older writers connected it with a Gaelic word or byname rendered as Calla, while others linked related forms to descriptive or religious meanings such as a hooded person or even a nun. Because the historical explanations conflict, the safest reading is that McCalla is a Gaelic surname of uncertain precise derivation, with the first element clearly patronymic.
History
McCalla appears in anglicized form in both Irish and Scottish contexts, and modern bearers may descend from different Gaelic lineages that ended up with the same spelling. Nineteenth-century surname writers often grouped it with similar Mac- names and proposed variant explanations based on local pronunciation and Gaelic wordplay. The spelling McCalla is now established in English-speaking countries, especially the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books sometimes tried to explain McCalla by splitting it into Gaelic pieces and then offering more than one possible meaning, which is a good reminder that 19th-century etymologies can be inventive as well as informative.
From the historical record
“of a mouth. MacCalla. Mac, son ; alia, a cHff, the final c o{ mac being carried over to alia. Son of a cliff McCallan. Mac, son ; calla, a hood, genitive same ; an, indicative of personality. Son of the wearer of a hood ; son of a nun.”
— Family Names from the Irish, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman and Scotch