McKeachan Surname

3,957,383rd
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 25 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
Scotland
Highest density in:
Scotland

McKeachan Surname Definition:

MACKICHAN: The same as Mackeich. which see, with diminutive -an. Current in Argyllshire. Popularly explained as from Mac Fhitheachain, 'son of the little raven' (Celt. Mon., IX, p. 179). "Once upon a time" it is said, when taking a child to be baptized it was customary to give it the name of the first living thing that was met on the way.

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McKeachan Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Scotland231:232,77511,829
England21:27,859,030389,889
PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Scotland201:187,1617,190

McKeachan Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

MACKICHAN: The same as Mackeich. which see, with diminutive -an. Current in Argyllshire. Popularly explained as from Mac Fhitheachain, 'son of the little raven' (Celt. Mon., IX, p. 179). "Once upon a time" it is said, when taking a child to be baptized it was customary to give it the name of the first living thing that was met on the way. When the ancestor of the Mackichans was being taken to church a raven met the procession, and accordingly the child was named Mac Fhitheachain. Mitchell's sugestion (History of the Highlands), possibly erived from Sir Walter Scott, that this name and Mackeith are from ceathach, 'mist,' is erroneous. Patrick M'Finlay fyan V'Kiachan, bailie of earl of Argyll, 1576 (Notes and queries, II July, 1931, p. 22). MACKIACHAN is another form of the name.

The Surnames of Scotland (1946) by George Fraser Black (1866-1948)

McKeachan Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name McKeachan Come From? nationality or country of origin

The surname McKeachan is most common in Scotland. It may be found in the variant forms:. Click here for further potential spellings of this surname.

How Common Is The Last Name McKeachan? popularity and diffusion

The surname McKeachan is the 3,957,383rd most widely held family name on a worldwide basis It is held by around 1 in 291,501,837 people. The last name is predominantly found in Europe, where 100 percent of McKeachan live; 100 percent live in Northern Europe and 100 percent live in British Isles.

This surname is most commonly occurring in Scotland, where it is held by 23 people, or 1 in 232,775. In Scotland McKeachan is most prevalent in: Renfrewshire, where 30 percent are found, Highland, where 30 percent are found and Aberdeenshire, where 13 percent are found. Excluding Scotland this last name exists in one country. It is also common in England, where 8 percent are found.

McKeachan Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

The incidence of McKeachan has changed through the years. In Scotland the share of the population with the surname rose 115 percent between 1881 and 2014.

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Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to McKeachan
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis