Trying to figure out my grandfathers last name origin, Mclean.... is it irish, e

Question:

Trying to figure out my grandfathers last name origin, Mclean.... is it irish, english, or scottish?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: It can be either...or it can be English. People are making assumptions based on the prefix, but the problem is that our ancestors didn't sit still and mingled and migrated throughout the British Isles. Mc is also Irish, and many of the Irish were nobles who were English but gained their lands through inheritance and marriage.

The way that you know for sure is to find the passenger list records (usually but not always at either http://www.castlegarden.org or http://www.ellisisland.org ) or the Naturalization petition or Declaration of Intent for your immigrant ancestor. The other way is to search the census records to see what he listed as his country of origin. The shortcoming to census records is that they're not consistent from one census to the next.