Campbell - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Mac Cathmhaoil
Meaning: “battle chief” (or Scottish “crooked mouth”)
Traditional stronghold: Antrim, Tyrone
Pronunciation: KAM-bell; Irish Mac Cathmhaoil: mok KAH-vwayl
History of the Campbell name
In Ulster, Campbell is most often an anglicisation of Mac Cathmhaoil, 'son of the battle chief', a leading sept of the Cenel Eoghain based around County Tyrone, whose name was rendered as Campbell because of a rough similarity in sound to the great Scottish clan name. Separately, many genuine Scottish Campbells, from Clan Campbell of Argyll, settled in Ulster during the seventeenth-century Plantation, so the surname in the north today descends from two quite distinct origins, native Irish and Scottish settler. Elsewhere in Ireland the name is generally of Scottish or English planter origin. Campbell remains one of the commonest surnames in Ulster.
Variants: Cample · MacCathmhaoil
Famous bearers of the name
- Gregory Campbell - Democratic Unionist Party politician and MP for East Londonderry
Related names from the same part of Ireland: O'Neill · Quinn · McDonnell · Donnelly · Cunningham · McGee · McGrath · Devlin