McKnight Surname Meaning & Origin
What the McKnight last name means, where the surname began and how it spread.
Meaning and origin of the McKnight last name
Meaning of the McKnight last name: son of Neachtan. McKnight comes from the Gaelic Mac Neachtain, "son of Neachtan", an old Pictish and Gaelic personal name sometimes explained as "pure". The name belongs to Galloway and Ayrshire in south-west Scotland, and many McKnights later moved to Ulster and then to Pennsylvania and the Carolinas. A curious detail: further north the same Gaelic name became MacNaughton, so McKnight and MacNaughton are really two spellings of one name.
Arms associated with the McKnight name
In Scotland, arms are strictly personal, and relatives carry their own versions that grow from the head of the family's shield, as with the McKnight name.
Get your full McKnight family history
This is only a glimpse of the McKnight story. The full McKnight history report goes much deeper into where the name began, who carried it and how the family spread, and it comes with a museum-style painted McKnight coat of arms. Get the full McKnight report.
McKnight name FAQ
What does the McKnight name mean?
Son of Neachtan. Common variants include MacNaught, McNaughton, Knight.
Where does the McKnight surname come from?
It originates in Scotland, and is also found in Northern Ireland, the United States and Canada.
Is there a McKnight coat of arms?
Arms were granted to individuals rather than to everyone with a surname. Herald Lab paints a personalized McKnight coat of arms in museum style, based on historic heraldry.
Researched by Herald Lab Research Studio, since 1993. Sources: George F. Black, The Surnames of Scotland (New York Public Library, 1946); Dictionary of American Family Names (Oxford); US Census Bureau 2010.