McDonnell - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Mac Dónaill
Meaning: “son of Dónall - world-mighty”
Traditional stronghold: Clare, Antrim
The Antrim McDonnells came as gallowglass warriors from the Scottish isles.
Pronunciation: muk-DON-uhl; Irish Mac Domhnaill: mahk DOH-nil
History of the McDonnell name
The McDonnells of Antrim descend from the Scottish MacDonald lords of the Isles, who established themselves along the Antrim coast from the late medieval period, intermarrying with Gaelic Irish families and becoming Earls of Antrim; Dunluce Castle stands as a monument to their power. A separate and older Mac Domhnaill sept existed in Clare and Connacht, unrelated to the Antrim family, as an ordinary patronymic from the personal name Domhnall. Because of these two independent origins, one Scottish-Irish and one native Gaelic, the surname is unusually mixed in background even by Irish standards. It remains especially associated with Antrim in Ulster and with Clare in Munster, and is common throughout Ireland today.
Variants: MacDonnell · McDonald · Donnell
Famous bearers of the name
- Randal MacDonnell - first Earl of Antrim, head of the Antrim McDonnells
- Alexander McDonnell - 19th-century Irish chess master
- Eoin MacNeill - not directly related; genuine bearer: James McDonnell, Belfast physician and founder of the Belfast Harp Festival
- Mary McDonnell - American actress
Related names from the same part of Ireland: O'Brien · Kennedy · Quinn · McMahon · Boland · Keane · Hogan · Cunningham