(Irish) The son of the servant of St. John.

(Scottish) The son of the servant of St. John (gracious gift of God).

The surname MacLean is of Scottish origin and means ‘son of the devotee of (Saint) John’. The intrusive ‘-L’ in the middle of the name is all that remains of the Scots Gaelic word ‘gillie’, which means ‘servant, lad or follower’. This we see more clearly in the Scots Gaelic version of McLean, which is Mac Gille Eoin. Eoin is the main Gaelic version of John, and is now more usually found as Iain, a highly popular Scots first name. The original first name John comes from the Hebrew Jochanaan, which means ‘God is gracious’. (For further details of history and origin of the first name John, see entry for Johnson.

The origins of the Clan McLean are clouded in spurious legends. However, it seems almost certain that the clan had two separate origins. The collective clan is known today in Gaelic as Clann ’ic ’ill Eathain.

The earliest mention of this name comes at the end of the thirteenth century, when one Gilmore Maclyn is listed as having paid homage to the King in 1296. As is usual in names translated from the Gaelic, there is a large variety of different spellings to be found in the records. These range from MacGillane (1526) to M’Gillean (1436) and M’lllclyane (sixteenth century). Most of these variations have now died out or have reverted to the standard McLean or MacLean. However, the version McLane is well known in America.

By a curious oddity, the name MacLean is also found frequently in Prussia. These MacLeans refer to themselves as the ‘MacLeans of Coll’ and are almost certainly of mercenary origin, though a persistent local legend has it that these MacLeans helped John MacLean, son of the laird of Dowant, to build the Swedish city of Gothenberg in the mid-seventeenth century. (In so doing, the canny Scot also accumulated a fortune, and was enrolled by Queen Christina of Sweden in 1649.) The last surviving participant in the Charge of the Light Brigade was Sir Fitzroy Donald Maclean (1835—1931). He also achieved the distinction of being the longest-lived baronet on record.

Britain’s two most celebrated post-war spies were Guy Burgess (1911—63) and Donald Maclean (b.1913). After being tipped off by master spy Kim Philby that their cover had been blown, the pair fled to Russia, where Maclean still lives.

One of the most consistent best-selling authors of all time is the Scottish-born adventure writer Alistair MacLean (b.1922). Between 1955 and 1978 he averaged a book a year. No fewer than 17 of them sold over a million copies. Twelve were made into action-packed films, including The Guns of Navarone (1961) and Where Eagles Dare (1969).

It is a little-known fact that the American Civil War both began and ended in the same room: the front parlour of Major Wilmer McLean’s house in Virginia. After the peace treaty was signed, souvenir-hunters stripped the house of all its furniture. A speculator later bought the house and dismantled it brick by brick, with the idea of re-erecting it in Washington as a tourist attraction. Unfortunately, he went bankrupt in the process, and the dismantled house has never been reassembled.

There are no towns, cities or major geographic features related to this name in the United Kingdom. Canada has one town named McClean, the United States has 4 (including McLean, Virginia, home of the CIA) and a McLeansboro. Australia has a MacLean and South Africa a MacLeantown. The only major geographic feature is Canada’s McLean Lake.

With about 23,000 namesakes MacLean and McLean form Scotland’s 19th most popular surname. Thus about one out of every 225 Scots is so named. (The name is not common enough throughout England and Wales to be counted separately.) This surname is notably popular in and around Glasgow where an estimated one in about 190 families bears the name, and in Edinburgh where the figure is about one in 335. Around the world MacLeans and McLeans are most common in Vancouver (one in 672 families), Ottawa (one in 836), Toronto (one in 917) and Wellington (one in 949). The United States has 43,000 McLeans which makes this variation of the name the 702nd most popular surname. They do not record MacLeans since there are fewer than 10,000 in the population.