Gilliland

G2I1L1L1I1L1A1N1D2

proper noun

A surname.

OriginScottish Gaelic Mac Gille Fhaoláin ← Irish Mac Giolla Fhaoláin →
Less commonScrabble 11
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

proper nounGilliland (plural Gillilands)

plural Gillilands · alternative Gilleland

  1. A surname.

Origin

  1. IrishMac Giolla Fhaoláin“son of the servant of (saint) Faolán”
  2. Scottish GaelicMac Gille Fhaoláin
  3. EnglishGilliland

Reduced Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Mac Gille Fhaoláin and Irish Mac Giolla Fhaoláin (“son of the servant of (saint) Faolán”), a personal name thought to be a diminutive of Irish faol (“wolf”). Compare the surname McClellan.

More words from Scottish Gaelic, Irish

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Gilliland. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gilliland

MLA

“Gilliland.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gilliland. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Gilliland,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Gilliland.

Source: Gilliland on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.