McCune
A Scottish and Irish surname usually understood as a Gaelic patronymic, often connected with the name Cú or a related Gaelic personal name.
The #3,715 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 32,333 Americans shares it.
Etymology
McCune is generally treated as an Anglicized Gaelic surname built on Mac, meaning “son of,” plus a personal-name element. The second element is commonly linked with Cú, an old Gaelic name meaning “hound” or “wolf,” though in some cases the surname may reflect a different Gaelic form with a similar sound. Because the spelling was normalized later in English, several close Gaelic surnames could be represented as McCune in records.
History
The surname is found in both Scottish and Irish usage, and like many Mac-names it spread widely through later emigration to North America. Historical spellings vary, and English clerks often wrote related Gaelic names in the same or similar forms, which is one reason the precise derivation can be hard to pin down from surname spellings alone. In modern American records, McCune is established but not especially common.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The element Cú in Gaelic personal names originally meant “hound,” a respected animal image often associated with strength and valor.
From the historical record
“Creedy, McCreet, McCrillis, McCrohan, McCrud- DEN, McCue, McCulloch, McCully, McCulver, McCune, McCurdy, McCushley, McCutcheon, McCutchins, McDade, McDavitt and McDevitt, McDermott, McDewell, McDougall; McDuff, Mc- DuFFE, and McDuffie; McEachen, McEachron ; McElheny, McElleny, and McEllheny; McElroy, McElwain…”
— Suffolk Surnames (3rd ed.)