The story
- Scottish Gaelic · derived fromMac Naoimhín“son of Naoimhín”
- English todayMcNiven
Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Mac Naoimhín (“son of Naoimhín”), a diminutive of naomh (“saint”); compare McNevin, which derives from the Irish variant of this surname.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.