McClure
A Scottish and Irish surname most often explained as “son of the clerk” or “son of the scholar.”
The #731 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 6,467 Americans shares it.
Etymology
McClure is usually treated as a Gaelic patronymic built on Mac, meaning “son of,” plus a word for a clerk, scholar, or learned man. In Scottish and Irish surname tradition, the name is often linked to Gaelic Mac Cléirich or a related form, pointing to an ancestor associated with clerical or scholarly work. The exact pathway into the modern spelling McClure is not entirely straightforward, but the core sense is generally “son of the clerk/scholar.”
History
The name is found especially in Scotland and Ulster, where many surnames beginning with Mc- or Mac- were established and later Anglicized in multiple spellings. It was carried to North America through Scots-Irish and Scottish migration, which helps explain its relatively strong presence in the United States today. Historical references also show it in the same broad family of Ulster-Scots surnames as McCluskey, McCloskey, and McConnell.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname lists often grouped McClure with other Mc- names rather than explaining it separately, which reflects how widely used and familiar the name already was by the 19th century.
From the historical record
“McClenigan, McClennan and McClennen, McClin, McClintock, McClone, McCloskey and McCluskey, McClure, McCol.gan and McColigan, McCollum, McColough, McColph, McCombe, McConachy, Mc- CoNiHE, McConnell, McConlogue and McCono- logue, McCordick, McCormeck and McCormick, McCosker, McCoubrey and McCoubrie, McCourt, McCowen…”
— Suffolk Surnames (3rd ed.)