McQuillan explained
McQuillan and MacQuillan are surnames of Irish origin. There are several unrelated origins of the surnames McQuillan and MacQuillan.
The Ulster variant of the surname was claimed to be an anglicisation of the Gaelic Mac Uighilín (son of Hugelin), the name allegedly adopted by the family of Hugelin de Mandeville. The de Mandevilles were a Cambro-Norman family and had conquered an area of north Antrim.[1] In reality the de Mandevilles sold their estates in northern Antrim to the McQuillans of County Down. Both families had previously held the office of "constable of the bonnaght" for the Earldom of Ulster – a system adopted from the Irish where mercenaries were hired to act as a body of standing troops.[2] The McQuillans renamed the lands they acquired "the Route", derived from their "rout", a common term then for a private army.[3]
These McQuillans played a large role in the history of County Antrim
List of persons with the surname
- Malcolm MacQuillan (died 1307), Scottish magnate
- Adrian McQuillan (born 1965), Northern Irish politician
- George McQuillan (1885–1940), American Major League baseball pitcher
- Jack McQuillan (1920–1998), Irish politician
- Jack McQuillan (footballer) (1885–1941), English Footballer
- Jim McQuillan (computer programmer), founder and project leader of the Linux Terminal Server Project
- Jim McQuillan (darts player) (born 1940), Irish former darts player
- John McQuillan (footballer) (born 1970), Scottish former professional footballer
- Matt McQuillan (born 1981), Canadian professional golfer
- Michael McQuillan (Gaelic footballer), Irish Gaelic football player
- Michael McQuillan (mathematician), Scottish mathematician
- Rachel McQuillan (born 1971), retired Australian professional tennis player
- Tony McQuillan (born 1951), Australian Test cricket match umpire
See also
Notes and References
- The Book of Ulster Surnames, The Black Staff Press,
- http://www.mcquillans.net/origins1.html MacQuillan Clan Association
- Bardon, Jonathan, A History of Ulster, page 45. The Black Staff Press, 2005.
