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What is the implication in "Gerald ‘Mac’ MacLean"?

English Language & Usage Asked by Rosa1917 on December 2, 2020

"Matthew Dimmock and Gerald ‘Mac’ MacLean gave me the benefit of their unrivalled expertise in the field…" (Jerry Brotton, This Orient Isle- Elizabethan England and the Islamic World, Acknowledgements)

2 Answers

The prefix Mac occurs in many Scottish Surnames: MacNair, MacLeod, MacLean ... an almost endless list. Its original meaning was "son of..". In Scotland it would be unusual to shorten it to 'Mac' because that would lead too easily to confusion with other people.

If such a person is elsewhere in the world, their friends may acknowledge the (real or imagined) Scots origin by calling them 'Mac'. It seems likely that Gerald M MacLean (universities of Oxford and Exeter) may have suffered this from sometimes patronising soubriquet.

Correct answer by Anton on December 2, 2020

Nicknames are put in quotation marks between the first and last names: Ringgold “Ring” Lardner, William “Bill” Clinton, Joseph “Sleepy Joe” Biden.

Gerald “Mac” MacLean is known to his friends as just “Mac”.

Answered by Malvolio on December 2, 2020

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