Is McCoy Irish or Scottish?
McCoy is a common surname of Scottish origin in the lands of Kintyre and then Irish (Gallowglass) origin. It is an Anglicisation of its Irish form Mac Aodha, meaning son of Aodh (a name of a deity in Irish mythology and an Irish word for "fire").
Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Aoidh 'son of Aodh' an old personal name meaning 'fire' originally the name of a pagan god. Thus it has the same origin as McGee McKay and McKee .
The families lived on opposite sides of a border stream, the Tug Fork—the McCoys in Pike county, Kentucky, and the Hatfields in Logan county (or Mingo county, formed from a portion of Logan county in 1895), West Virginia.
In the United States, the name McCoy is the 218th most popular surname with an estimated 119,376 people with that name.
Place | Incidence | Frequency |
---|---|---|
United States | 141,476 | 1:2,562 |
England | 3,911 | 1:14,246 |
Canada | 3,524 | 1:10,456 |
Australia | 2,522 | 1:10,704 |
In ancient Scotland, the ancestors of the McCoy family were part of a tribe called the Picts. The name McCoy is derived from the personal name Aodh, a cognate of Hugh. The Gaelic form of the name is usually Mac Aoidh and in Inverness, the Gaelic form of the name McCoy is Mac Ai.
For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Mccoy was: What is this? 66.88%, or 74,066 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic White Only". 26.71%, or 29,580 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic Black Only".
Position | Name | Number |
---|---|---|
1 | SMITH | 2273 |
2 | BROWN | 1659 |
3 | WILSON | 1539 |
4 | THOMSON | 1373 |
The family motto: "Manu forti," means "With a strong hand." The McCoys were in Scotland until around 1700 A.D. at which time they migrated to Ireland. In the early 1700s, the McCoys started to migrate to America, which was a British Colony.
- Frazier.
- McCarthy.
- Gilles.
- Clydell.
- Bartley.
- Eon.
- Fergus.
- Bran.
What McCoys are known for?
The McCoys were a rock group formed in Union City, Indiana, United States, in 1962. They are best known for their 1965 hit single "Hang On Sloopy". Their name was changed from Rick and the Raiders to The McCoys, taken from the B-side of The Ventures' hit record "Walk, Don't Run" titled "The McCoy".
phrase. If you describe someone or something as the real McCoy, you mean that they really are what they claim to be and are not an imitation. [informal] Synonyms: real thing, genuine article More Synonyms of the real McCoy.

The leader of the McCoys was Randle McCoy. The first known event linking the Hatfields and McCoys was at the end of the Civil War. Devil Anse fought for the Confederate Army for two years. Then he and some of his family members left the army and returned home.
The name “Mccoy” is of English origin. It's a name commonly given to boys.
There are thousands of Hatfield and McCoy descendants—but not all of them are real. Sid Hatfield is just one of many notable Hatfield and McCoy descendants.
The name McCoy is primarily a gender-neutral name of Scottish origin that means Son Of Aodh.
The name Mccoy is boy's name of Irish origin meaning "fire". One of numerous usable Irish and Scottish surnames starting with Mac and Mc, this is the real McCoy. McCoy Tyner, the well-known jazz pianist, is one of the few to use this very cool name.
Hatfield is an Old English surname of Anglo-Saxon origin.
McCoy's is a brand of crinkle-cut crisps made in the United Kingdom by KP Snacks. It was first produced in 1985 and is marketed under the slogan "The Real McCoy's – Accept No Imitations" ("Man Crisps" in current advertising), exploiting the Scottish idiom "the real McCoy".
The Gallowglass (also spelled galloglass, gallowglas or galloglas; from Irish: gallóglaigh meaning foreign warriors) were a class of elite mercenary warriors who were principally members of the Norse-Gaelic clans of Ireland between the mid 13th century and late 16th century.
How many Hatfields were killed?
Hatfield–McCoy feud | |
---|---|
Date | 1863–1891 |
Location | Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River, West Virginia–Kentucky |
Caused by | land disputes |
Resulted in | More than a dozen killed from both sides Nine Hatfields imprisoned (including seven Hatfields who were imprisoned for life and one Hatfield who was executed) |
Last name: McKoy
Recorded as McCoy and sometimes McKoy, this interesting surname is of Irish, Scottish and Manx origins. It is a developed form of the Old Gaelic Mac Aodha, meaning the son of Fire, originally the name of a Celtic pagan god.