What We Know About the MacBride Surname

Ancestors listed as MacBride are often found as McBride a generation earlier. Name scholars give the meaning as “Son of the devotee of Saint Brigid”.

• MacBride sounds close to MacBrady, so it can help to search both.
• The same family of names includes McBryde and Gilbride.
• The Census Bureau's 2010 surname file lists MacBride with 848 bearers, at rank 28,215.
• Regional accents shaped spellings long before dictionaries fixed them.
• Before spelling was fixed, McBride was also written MacBride.

Heraldry and the MacBride name

Looking for a MacBride coat of arms? Arms were granted to families, not to surnames, and our research shows which heraldic tradition fits yours. Research your MacBride family history with a full surname report and painted coat of arms.