McCoy surname meaning

McCoy is an anglicized Gaelic patronymic, most often connected with Mac Aodha, “son of Aodh.” Aodh is a Gaelic personal name that was frequently rendered as Hugh in English, so Mac Aodha could become McCoy or MacCoy through several spelling stages. McCay and McKoy are neighboring forms, but a variant spelling does not prove one branch. Irish and Scottish families may have developed the same English-looking surname independently. Parent’s name is the high-confidence catalog type: the relationship formula is clear even though the records of individual McCoy lines remain geographically diverse.