McCandless (surname)
McCandless is a Scots-Irish surname. It is derived from the Gaelic Mac Cuindlis meaning 'son of Cuindleas', a given name of uncertain meaning.[1][2][3] In historical census and other data, the name is mostly confined to the province of Ulster, especially County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland, and counties Antrim, Down, and Derry/Londonderry in Northern Ireland.[4] The name is closely related to McCandlish (from the same derivation but primarily found in Scotland).[5] McCandless has also been attested in Scotland.[6] It is etymologically but probably not familially related to the western Irish Ó Cuindlis ('descendant of Cuindleas'), a literary family of Uí Maine.[1][7][8]
The earliest form of the given name can be traced back to an abbot from the 8th century called Cuindles.[9][10][7]
Notable McCandlesses
- Al McCandless (1927–2017), US Congressman
- Billy McCandless (1894–1955), Irish football player and manager
- Bruce McCandless (1911–1968), US Navy rear admiral, and Medal of Honor recipient
- Bruce McCandless II (1937–2017), astronaut who made the first untethered spacewalk
- Byron McCandless (1881–1967), commodore in the US Navy; vexillologist
- Chris McCandless (1968–1992), American hiker and itinerant traveler; the subject of Into the Wild (1996)
- Cromie McCandless (1921–1992), Northern Irish motorcycle road racer; brother of Rex
- Ezra McCandless (born Monica Kay, 1998), an American who was convicted of the murder of Alex Woodworth
- Jack McCandless (1892–1940), Irish football player and manager
- Lincoln Loy McCandless (1859–1940), American politician, cattle rancher, industrialist from Hawaii
- Paul McCandless (born 1947), American jazz woodwind player and composer
- Ray B. McCandless (1889–1931), American college sports coach
- Rex McCandless (1915–1992), Northern Irish motorcycle road racer, designer of the Norton Featherbed motorcycle frame; brother of Cromie
- Scott Cook "Jack" McCandless (1891–1961), Major League Baseball player
- Stanley McCandless (1897–1967), considered to be the first theatrical lighting educator
- William McCandless (1834–1884), Union Army officer in the American Civil War, and later member of the Pennsylvania State Senate
- Wilson McCandless (1810–1882), US federal judge from Pennsylvania
See also
- McCandless (disambiguation) – including place names, vessels, fictional characters, etc.
- McCandlish
- McCandless Gang
- Ó Cuindlis
References
- MacLysaght, Edward (1997) [1957]. The Surnames of Ireland (6th ed.). Dublin: Irish Academic Press. pp. 35, 36, 252.
- "Irish names and surnames: Mac Cuindilis".
- "Surname Database: McCandless Last Name Origin". The Internet Surname Database. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
- "1901/1911 Census, Ireland / Search: McCandless". Search Census. National Archives of Ireland. 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2023. The data can be visualized with maps provided here: Griffin, Barry (2023). "MACCANDLESS Surname Maps of Ireland". Irish Surname Maps for the 1901 and 1911 Census of Ireland. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- Black, George F. (1946). The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning, and History. New York Public Library. pp. 131, 464.
- Griffin, Barry (2023). "Surname Maps for the MACCANDLESS Surname in Scotland". Scottish Surname Maps for the 1901 Census of Scotland.
- "Irish names and surnames: Ó Cuindlis".
- Koch, John T. (2006). Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. vol. 3, pp. 1119, 1121; vol. 5, pp. 2102. ISBN 9781851094400.
- Ryan, John (1938). The Abbatial Succession at Clonmacnoise. Feil-Sgribhinn Eoin Mhic Neill. p. 499.
- Woulfe, Patrick (1923). "Mac Cuindilis - Irish Names and Surnames". LibraryIreland.com. Retrieved 31 May 2023.