CLINTON MCKNIGHT

Mainly North American: transferred use of the English surname, a local name from Glympton in Oxfordshire or Glinton in Northants. It was originally used as a given name in America in honour of the Clinton family, whose members included the statesman George Clinton (1739–1812), governor of New York, and his nephew De Witt Clinton (1769–1828), who was responsible for overseeing the construction of the Erie Canal. More recently it has no doubt been bestowed with reference to William Jefferson Clinton (b. 1946), 42nd president of the U.S., and it has enjoyed increasing popularity in the U.K.

Irish: 1. (Ulster) Anglicized form of Scottish Mac Neachtain, which is usually Anglicized as McNaughton. 2. part translation of Gaelic Mac an Ridire ‘son of the horseman (Gaelic ridire)’.