McCandlish

McCandlish (/mɪkˈkænd.lɪʃ/, mik-CAND-lish is Scottish surname (and rarely also a given name), derived from Scottish Gaelic and Middle Irish Mac Cuindlis (among other spellings), meaning 'son of Cuindleas', an Old Irish given name of uncertain meaning.^[2]

McCandlish, MacCandlish

McCandlish red tartan[1]
Pronunciation	/mɪkˈkænd.lɪʃ/
Language(s)	Anglicised Scottish Gaelic
Origin
Meaning	'Son of Cuindleas'
Region of origin	Scotland (south-west), Ireland (north)
Other names
Variant form(s)	McAndlish, McCanleis, McCaunles,[2] McCandleish,[3] and many others

Variants

Some variants include McAndlish,^[2] McCanalish, McCandelich, McCandelish, McCandish, McCandlash, and McCandleis, among others. Spellings with Mac were believed to be extinct by the first half of the 20th century,^[2] but still survive among a few families, primarily in the United States and Canada.^[4] As with other names of this sort, versions with M' were also attested until the early 20th century.^[2][3]

The name is closely related to McCandless (from the same derivation), found in Scotland and especially the north of Ireland (Ulster).^[5][6] Some recorded north Irish variants are more similar to McCandlish, e.g. McCandleish,^[3] while some Scottish variants are closer to McCandless, e.g. McCanleis and McCaunles.^[2] McCandlish itself has also sometimes historically been attested in Northern Ireland.^[7]

It is etymologically but probably not familially related to Ó Cuindlis, 'descendant of Cuindlis', a literary family of Uí Mháine in west-central Ireland.^[5][8][9] The earliest form of the given name can be traced back to an abbot from the 8th century called Cuindles.^[10][11][8]

Surname

• Benjamin McCandlish (1886–1975), United States Navy flag officer; 36th naval governor of Guam
• Edward Gerstell McCandlish (1887–1946), American illustrator, mapmaker, toymaker, and author of the Bunny Tots series of children's books (1920s); perhaps best known for illustrating Laboulaye's Fairy Book
• John Edward Chalmers McCandlish CB CBE (1901–1974), British Army major-general
• John MacGregor McCandlish (1821–1901), Scottish lawyer; first president of the Faculty of Actuaries
• Mackey McCandlish, animator, game designer, and co-creator of Blahbalicious
• Margherita McCandlish née Wood (1892–1954), former first lady of Guam, wife of Benjamin
• William Leslie McCandlish, British dog breeder (see List of Chairmen of the Kennel Club)

Given name

• McCandlish Phillips (1927–2013), American journalist and evangelist

See also

• Candlish, a derived Scottish surname
• McCandless (surname), a more common Scots-Irish form of the name, primarily found in the north of Ireland
• Ó Cuindlis, a west Irish surname dating to the 14th century; anglicized as Conlisk, Cundlish, Quinlist, and several other variants