Given name & surname · also Gaelic
Mcclellan
“son of the servant of Faolán”
McClellan is a surname from Scottish Gaelic, ultimately from Irish.
Original IrishMac Giolla Fhaoláin
Meaning & origin
What it means
McClellan goes back to Irish Mac Giolla Fhaoláin, meaning “son of the servant of Faolán.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Where it comes from
McClellan comes from Scottish Gaelic, and ultimately from Irish.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
In English usage, Mcclellan as a surname developed from Mac Giolla Fhaoláin.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1890. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Mcclellan through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 89
- 89 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1941
- 10 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2008. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 10 in 1941. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 131 as a first name in 2020; 24,392 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Mcclellan’s family of names
In English usage, Mcclellan as a surname developed from the Irish form Mac Giolla Fhaoláin. In English usage, Mcclellan as a surname has a related form in MCCLELLAND. In English usage, Mcclellan as a surname has a related form in MCCLELLAND.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 4
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 3
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
Similar names
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