Patronymic was used by illegitimate royal children who were acknowledged as such by their fathers. The use of "Mac" in some form was prevalent in Scottish Gaelic, Irish and Manx, in all of which it denotes "son". "Mc" is also a frequent anglicisation in both Scotland and Ireland. In Ireland, the forms "Mag" and "M'" are encountered. The prefix "Mac" is used to form a patronym, such as "Mac Coinnich" – or the anglicized 'Mackenzie' – son of Coinneach/Kenneth. The female equivalent of "Mac" is "Nic", condensed from "nighean mhic" (in Scottish Gaelic) or "iníon mhic" (in Irish), both meaning daughter.
McPhillips The McPhillips surname was found to be the 31st most numerous in County Monaghan in 1970. It is almost exclusive in Dartry where it is the 7th most common surname. In Connacht, Phillips is an Anglicisation of McPhilbin which is one of the Hibernicised branches of the Burke clan. The surname was used interchangeably with Mac Philib & McPhillips, but most later dropped the Mc/Mac prefix. In Scotland, different variations of the surname can be found in Inverness-shire and Argyllshire. The most common version is McKillop, which can be represented in Scottish Gaelic as MacFhilib and MacPhilip. Politics Sports Culture