McKoy
A Scottish and Irish surname meaning “son of Koy,” from a Gaelic personal name that was later Anglicized in several spellings.
The #4,535 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 39,482 Americans shares it.
Etymology
McKoy is a Mac/Mc surname, meaning “son of,” attached to a Gaelic personal name that was rendered in English as Koy, Coy, or similar forms. In many cases, surnames of this type come from an older Gaelic given name that was simplified or reshaped when written in English. The exact original Gaelic form behind McKoy is not always straightforward, so the name is best treated as an Anglicized patronymic rather than a single fixed derivation.
History
The surname is most at home in the Gaelic-speaking worlds of Scotland and Ireland, but it also became established in North America through migration and spelling variation. In records, it often appears alongside close variants such as McCoy, which may reflect the same underlying Gaelic name in some families. Because spelling was fluid for centuries, some McKoy lines may have shifted to or from McCoy over time.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
McKoy is relatively uncommon in the U.S., but it belongs to one of the most recognizable surname patterns in the Celtic world: Mac/Mc plus a personal name.