McClure (surname) McClure (surname) McClure is a surname with several origins. One origin of the name is from the Scottish Gaelic "MacGilleUidhir", and Irish "Mac Giolla Uidhir", which probably mean "son of the pale one” or “son of the cold one.” Another origin of the name is from the Scottish Gaelic "MacGilleDheòradha", and the Irish "Mac Giolla Dheóradha", which mean "son of the servant of the pilgrim". In the Scottish clan system, McClures are a sept of Clan MacLeod of Dunvegan. Famously, an Irish king with the surname McClure threw and knocked out a fellow lad and commoners called a punch that
Surname as well as "FitzWilliam" or "Fitzwilliam". Irish surnames are the oldest surnames in Europe. The common prefixes "Ó" and "Mac" can be spelled with the prefix as a separate word, yielding "Ó Briain" or "Mac Millan" as well as the anglicized "O'Brien" and "MacMillan" or "Macmillan". In the United States, 1,712 surnames cover 50% of the population, and about 1% of the population has the surname Smith, which is also the most frequent English name and an occupational name ("metal worker"), a contraction, for instance, of blacksmith or other metalsmiths. Several American surnames are a result of corruptions or phonetic