Family name origins & meanings
- Scottish and northern Irish : Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Dhubhghaill (see McDowell).
- Scottish and northern Irish : Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Gille Chomhghaill (Scottish), Mac Giolla Comhghaill ‘son of the servant of (Saint) Comhghall’, a personal name, possibly an intensive of gall ‘stranger’, borne by an early Irish saint.
- Irish : possibly an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Cumhaill ‘son of Cumhall’, a byname meaning ‘champion’. Fionn Mac Cumhaill is the name of a famous hero in traditional Irish literature.