McClung

muh-KLUNG (rhymes with "sung")

An Ulster-Scottish surname probably meaning “son of the hunchbacked or bent man,” though its exact origin is not certain.

The #3,746 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 32,651 Americans shares it.

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Etymology

McClung is a surname of Gaelic form, with Mc- meaning “son of.” The second element is usually taken as a nickname or descriptive byname related to a bent, stooping, or hunchbacked person, though the precise underlying Gaelic form is not fully settled. In practice, the name is usually explained as belonging to a Gaelic patronymic tradition that was later Anglicized in Ulster and Scotland.

History

The surname is found mainly in Ulster and among families of Ulster-Scots background, then carried onward to North America. Spellings were often stabilized only after migration, so modern McClung families may descend from older Gaelic forms that were recorded in different ways. The name is especially associated with Scots-Irish settlement in the American colonies and later in the Appalachian regions.

Origin

patronymic or matronymicScottish GaelicIrish GaelicEnglish

Regions

ScotlandNorthern IrelandUlsterUnited StatesAppalachia

Variant spellings

MacClungMcClungClung

Fun fact

Because Mc- was often dropped or respelled in records, some Clung surnames in older documents may be linked to the same family line.

Related surnames

Confidence: pattern inferred. No direct historical-dictionary match found; based on general naming-pattern knowledge.

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