Neil "Neil" is a reduced form of the surname "McNeil" (from the Gaelic "Mac Néill", "son of "Niall""), or variant form the surname of Neill (from the Irish "Ó Néill" or the Scottish Gaelic "Mac Néill", meaning "descendant of "Niall"" and "son of "Niall"". The name passed from Ireland to Scotland where it had the "Mc/Mac" prefix. Some Scottish McNeill's returned to Ireland in the 14th century and are associated with "MacNeill", "MacGreal", "MacReill", and "Mag Reil" surnames. The Manx version of the name is "Kneal" (1598), "Kneale" (1655), or "Kneel" (1636). It evolved from McNelle (1408) and MacNeyll (1430) becoming
Irish people used. While both "Mac" and "Ó'" prefixes are Gaelic in origin, "Mac" is more common in Scotland and in Ulster than in the rest of Ireland; furthermore, "Ó" is far less common in Scotland than it is in Ireland. The proper surname for a woman in Irish uses the feminine prefix nic (meaning daughter) in place of mac. Thus a boy may be called Mac Domhnaill whereas his sister would be called Nic Dhomhnaill or Ní Dhomhnaill – the insertion of 'h' follows the female prefix in the case of most consonants (bar H, L, N, R, & T). A