Mac Eacháin is an

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

surname. It is the

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...

form of the personal name ''Eachán''. The personal name ''Eachán'' is diminutive of the personal name ''Eachaidh'', which is derived from ''each'', meaning ''

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

''. Anglicised forms of the surname include McGahan (or MacGahan),

Gahan Gahan (and its variant Gahame) is a surname with several different origins. One origin of the surname is from a reduced form of '' McGahan'', which is in turn an Anglicised form of the Irish language '' Mac Eacháin'', meaning "son of ''Eachá ...

, McCaughan, and McGaffin (or MacGaffin).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac Eachain Irish-language masculine surnames Patronymic surnames Irish families Surnames of Irish origin