1,032 Global MCLEISH Family Members

MCLEISH Family History

This long-established surname is of early medieval Scottish origin. It is a developed form of the Old Gaelic Mac Gill'Iosa, meaning the son of the servant of Jesus, from Mac meaning son of, gille, a follower, and Iosa, the Gaelic form of Jesus. Several Irish and Scottish names with the initial syllable of Gil or Kil, ", indicate devotion to Christ, or to a particular saint. In the process of development this surname acquired over seventy variant forms and these are believed to include examples such as Mcless, McCloch, M'Culeis, McColleis, MacLese, Macless, MacLise, MacLish and MacLeish. Early examples of the surname recordings include in the year 1500, Alexander Macless, a witness at Dumbarton, and in 1580, Gillecrist Og M'Culeis, of Ardnahow, was noted in an Iona Charter...