The story
- Old Norse · derived fromsveinn“boy, servant”
- Scottish Gaelic · derived fromMac Suibhne
- English todayMcSwain
Probably an Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Mac Suibhne, like McSweeney or a Gaelic patronymic based on Old Norse sveinn (“boy, servant”).
Words from the same roots
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.