McEwen
A Scottish surname meaning “son of Ewen,” with Ewen being a Gaelic form of the personal name Owen/Eugene.
The #4,659 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 40,571 Americans shares it.
Etymology
McEwen is a patronymic surname built from Gaelic Mac, meaning “son of,” plus Ewen, a personal name found in Scottish and Irish Gaelic use. The name Ewen is commonly linked with Owen/Eugene and ultimately with a Celtic name tradition also reflected in Welsh Owen. In older spellings, the name appears in many forms, including M'Ewen, MacEwen, McEwan, and McKewn.
History
The surname is long established in Scotland, especially in the Highlands and in central counties such as Perthshire and Stirlingshire. Historical writers also connected it with notable Gaelic families and with the old personal name borne by early Scottish rulers and nobles. Over time, the spelling varied widely as clerks wrote the name phonetically.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century sources note several early spellings of the name, including McKewn and Kewyne, showing how flexible surname spelling could be before standardization.
From the historical record
“M'CUNE. MacEwen. M'Ewan. M'Ewen.”
— Varieties and Synonymes of Surnames and Christian Names in Ireland