Heraldry and the McCall Surname

Families named McCall share an Irish surname with a long history. In Elsdon Smith's reading, the name described “the son of Cathal (battle mighty), or of Cathmhaol (battle chief)”. It is a patronymic: it named a person after a father or forebear. The name also appears as MacCall and McColl.

43,483 Americans were listed as McCall in the 2010 census. It sits within the 1,000 most common last names in the country.

A coat of arms was granted to a particular family line, not to everyone named McCall, so a shared surname is a clue rather than a claim to the arms. For the full story, order the McCall surname pack.