About the Macphail surname
The surname Macphail is associated with a patronymic formation. The Mac-/Mc- formation is traditionally patronymic and means “son of” in Gaelic languages. The name therefore belongs to a tradition in which an ancestor's given name gradually became a hereditary surname. Different families could independently adopt a surname formed from the same given name.
Pronunciation:
Mak-faj/makfaj/