McKean
An Irish surname, usually understood as a form of Mac Kean, meaning “son of Kean/John.”
The #6,402 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 58,100 Americans shares it.
Etymology
McKean is an Anglicized Irish surname. The forms in the older dictionaries point to Gaelic Mac Kean / Mac Cain, a patronymic built with mac, meaning “son of,” plus a personal name rendered Kean, Cain, or a related spelling. In many cases this personal name is treated as an Irish form of John, though older scholarship does not always separate that neatly from other Gaelic name forms.
History
Woulfe lists McKean among Irish spellings associated with Mac Kean and related forms such as MacKane and MacKain. The surname is found in Ireland in several anglicized spellings, especially in Ulster and in records where Gaelic names were rendered phonetically by English clerks. In the United States it often reflects Irish immigration and later standardization under the spelling McKean.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Gaelic surname could be written many different ways in old records, so one family line may appear as MacKean in one document and McCain or McKane in another.
From the historical record
“Keheerin. triAC eAT)bAitiT), Edwards. triAC eAin, MacKean, MacKane, MacKain, MacCain, etc. triAC eAmoinn, IIIac ^Amuinn, MacAimon, MacEdmund ;”
— Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish names and surnames