Etymology

McCartney

Mc·Cart·ney
M3C3C3A1R1T1N1E1Y4

Today it means: An Irish surname from Scottish Gaelic, notably of Sir Paul McCartney (b. 1942), one of the Beatles. Full definition →

Scottish Gaelic Mac Artaine ← Old Irish art
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The story

  1. Old Irish · derived fromart“bear”
  2. Scottish Gaelic · borrowed fromMac Artaine
  3. English todayMcCartney

Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Mac Artaine (literally “son of Artan”), from mac (“son”) + Artan, a diminutive of the name Art, from Old Irish art (“bear”). Compare McCartan, of similar origin.

Words from the same roots

Old Irishart all →

McCartan

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.