McClendon
An Anglicized Scottish or Irish surname, most likely built from a Gaelic personal name beginning with Mac or from a place-name form that was later reshaped in English.
The #1,907 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 16,373 Americans shares it.
Etymology
McClendon is an Anglicized surname with the Gaelic prefix Mac, meaning “son of,” though the second element is not fully settled. In practice, names of this type often come from an older Gaelic personal name that was later reshaped in English spelling, and McClendon is usually treated as one of several Americanized forms that developed from an earlier Mc-/Mac- surname. The ending -endon likely reflects English spelling adaptation rather than a transparent original Gaelic ending.
History
The surname is found mainly in the United States, especially among families of Scottish or Irish descent. Like many Mc- surnames, it likely became more variable in spelling after migration, with clerks and descendants standardizing the name in different ways. Modern American bearers often share ancestry with earlier Mac/Mc forms even when the exact original Gaelic source is difficult to pin down.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
McClendon is often grouped with McLendon and related spellings, which means one family line may appear under several different forms in older records.