Family name origins & meanings
- Irish and Scottish : Americanized form of Gaelic Mac Giolla Brighde (Irish) or Mac Gille Brighde (Scottish) ‘son of the servant of (Saint) Brigit’, more often Americanized as McBride. The name Brighid (modern Brigit) almost certainly means ‘exalted’. Brighid was probably originally a pagan fire goddess, many of whose attributes became attached to the historical figure of St. Brigit of Kildare (452–523), founder of the first Irish convent.