McCandless
An Irish surname, likely a variant of MacQuin or a related Gaelic name that was later reshaped in spelling.
The #6,576 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 59,962 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally treated as an Anglicized Irish name, but the old spellings and later forms make its exact derivation somewhat uncertain. The cited source groups MacCandless with forms such as MacQuinn, Mac Quin, and MacGuinn, suggesting that McCandless may be a later spelling variant developed from a Gaelic Mac- name associated with Quinn. In short, it is probably patronymic in origin, though the precise underlying Gaelic form is not fully secure from the excerpt alone.
History
The name appears in Irish surname tradition in several altered spellings, which is typical of Gaelic names that were Anglicized in different ways over time. Modern bearers are found chiefly in Ireland and the Irish diaspora, especially in North America and Great Britain. The spelling McCandless is now established as a surname in its own right, even where it may have grown out of older Mac- forms.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname has several historical spellings that look unrelated at first glance, but they were all recorded together by one Gaelic surname scholar as possible variants of the same name-family.
From the historical record
“mAC^tun-oilif, mAcCuin-qlif, MacCandlis, MacCandless, MacCanlis, MacAndless, etc. triAC Cuinn, MacQuinn, Mac Quin, MacGuinn, Quinn.”
— Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish names and surnames