McDonnell
An Irish surname meaning “son of Donall” — the Donal/Donald name in Gaelic form.
The #2,532 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 21,577 Americans shares it.
Etymology
McDonnell is an Anglicized form of Irish Mac Domhnaill, meaning “son of Donall” or “son of Donald.” The personal name Domhnall is the Gaelic form behind Donald, and the surname developed from that given name rather than from the later Scottish clan surname alone. Older sources sometimes spell the name MacDonnell or MacDonald, reflecting the same underlying Gaelic root.
History
The name is long associated with Gaelic-speaking families in Ireland and Scotland, and many historical spellings overlap because scribes rendered the same Gaelic name in several English forms. In Irish records it is often grouped with MacDonald, MacConnell, and related variants, all pointing back to the same personal name. The Mc- spelling became especially common in later English usage, while Mac- forms often remained in older or more formal contexts.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older genealogical and surname books, McDonnell is often indexed right beside McDonald because the two were frequently treated as variants of the same Gaelic family name.
From the historical record
“MacDermott. From the Iri: j MacDiarmada ; a p.n. (freeman MacDonald, Macdonnell. Fro the Irish MacDomhnaill ; a p. (great chief) MacDuff. See Duff Mace. F. Mes or Mewes (cc ,”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)