McArdle - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Mac Ardghail
Meaning: “son of high valour”
Traditional stronghold: Monaghan
Pronunciation: muh-KAR-dul; Irish Mac Ardghail: mock ARD-gil
History of the McArdle name
Mac Ardghail means 'son of Ardghal', a personal name usually interpreted as 'high valour'. The McArdles were a branch of the great MacMahon lordship of Oriel, and their homeland has always been County Monaghan and the adjoining parts of Louth and Armagh; the name is still overwhelmingly found in that small border district, a sign of a family that stayed rooted through conquest and plantation. In the MacMahon country the McArdles held land as a recognised subsept rather than as independent chiefs. Emigration in the nineteenth century carried the name to Britain and America, where spellings such as McCardle and Cardle appeared.
Variants: MacArdle · McCardle · Cardle
Famous bearers of the name
- James McArdle - Scottish stage and screen actor acclaimed for Angels in America at the National Theatre.
- Brian McArdle - Physician who in 1951 first described the muscle disorder now known as McArdle disease.
- John McArdle - English actor of Irish descent, best known as Billy Corkhill in Brookside.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Connolly · Duffy · McMahon · McKenna · McCabe · O'Gorman · Traynor · Finn