Patrick surname meaning
A surname from the personal name Patrick, with Scottish and Irish Mac Phádraig “son of Patrick” routes.
Confidence: Likely. The main story is well supported; some details of the deeper root are less certain.
The short story
Patrick is a surname taken from the Christian personal name Patrick, from Latin Patricius, associated with a patrician or noble father. In Scottish and Irish records it can also be a shortened anglicized form of Mac Phádraig, “son of Patrick,” while Peden, McPadden, and Fitzpatrick preserve related naming traditions. English Patrick may sometimes be a variant of Partridge, and immigrant records add further altered forms. Parent’s name is the catalog lead because an ancestor’s given name or patronymic supplied the surname, but likely confidence reflects these competing regional histories.
Also seen as: Pádraig, Peden, McPadden, Fitzpatrick
- Ancestry surname meaning for Patrick citing DAFN 2022 (personal name and Gaelic patronymic routes)
- Wikipedia “Patrick (name)” (Latin Patricius and surname history)
- Names2020_LastNames_RaceHispanic_Top1000.xlsx (2020 Census)
- US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Last Names in the 2020 Census by Race and Hispanic Origin: Top 1,000 (Names2020_LastNames_RaceHispanic_Top1000.xlsx), released April 2026