McClay

McClay is a Scottish surname. It is derived from Gaelic Mac an Léigh, or possibly a Highland adaption of the Irish Gaelic Mac Duinnshléibhe (anglicised Donlevy) where the Scots aspirated the “D” and then dropped the final “e” from the Irish language form of the name.

When the north-eastern Irish kingdom of Ulaid fell to John de Courcy in 1177, many of the MacDonlevy dynasty sought asylum in the Highlands of Scotland. Their MacDonlevy surname evolved there first to Maconlea, also, MacConloy, McCloy and, then, to MacALeavy, MacAlea, MacLea, MacLay, McClay and, even, Leevy, Levy (surname) and Leavy.[1][2][3] Some sources contend that the surname McClay, like the surname MacKinley, arises instead from a Gaelic language nickname given the MacDonlevy in both the Scottish Highlands and elsewhere. That nickname is Mac an Leigh, translating to English as leech, but meaning a physician. Leeching (medical) was in Gaelic Ireland, Scotland and elsewhere for millennium a pervasive medical therapy. The MacDonlevy were also one of Ireland’s ancient hereditary medical families.[4][5] Notable people with the surname include:

See also

References
  1. Rev. Patrick Woulfe, Priest of the Diocese of Limerick, Member of the Council, National Academy of Ireland, Irish Names and Surnames, © 1967 Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, in Irish and English, pp. 355-356
  2. Edward MacLysaght, Irish Families – Their Names, Arms and Origins, © 1972 Allen Figgis and Co. Ltd., in U.S.A., New York, Crown Publishers, Inc., p. 118, “MacDONLEVY, Dunleavy, Leavy … Mac Duinnshléibhe … In modern times it has many synonyms : besides spelling variants such as Donlevy, there is McAleevy (due to the aspiration of the D), Leevy (by abbreviation) and MacNulty, or in Irish, Mac an Ultaigh, i.e. son of the Ulidian (Ultach).”
  3. Highland Papers. Vol. II. Edinburgh: Scottish Historical Society. 1916. p. 255. Note on list of Stuart loyalists massacred at the 1647 Battle of Dunaverty in Kintyre, Scotland, “Of the surnames appearing in the second column the M'onleas were originally M'Dunleas ; the D disappears through euphonistic elision in Gaelic. Although Niall 10th Duke of Argyll, thought it quite possible that their eponymic ancestor was Dunsleve, the son of Aedh Alain, the O'Neill Prince evidence now leads to the conclusion that they are descendents of the Ruaidhri Mac Duinnsleibhe, the last king of Ulidia.”
  4. A. Nic Donnchadha, "Medical Writing in Irish", in 2000 Years of Irish Medicine, J.B. Lyons, ed., Dublin, Eirinn Health Care Publications © 2000, p. 217 (Nic Donchadha contribution reprinted from Irish Journal of Medicine, Vol. 169, No. 3 at pp 217-220 of text 2000 Years of Irish Medicine)
  5. Susan Wilkinson, "Early Medical Education in Ireland", Irish Migration Studies in Latin America, Vol. 6, No. 3 (November 2008)
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