Family name origins & meanings
- Irish : shortened Anglicized form of McCalvey, which is recorded as a variant Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Giolla Bhuidhe (see McElwee), although Woulfe treats it as an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Chalbhaigh, possibly from calbhach ‘bald’.
- In some cases possibly an Americanized spelling of the southern French surname Calvé, a nickname from Old Occitan calv ‘bald’.