For Irish surnames (Mc) and Scottish surnames (Mac), is it better to use a space after the Mc/Mac part, not use a space, or does it matter?
I’ve never seen that discussed before. In what records would you find Mac Arthur? I would enter it as recorded in the evidence… You could always use it as Alternate Name…
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Interestingly, Mc and Mac is not a bright line to distinguish between Irish and Scottish surnames. Unless you choose an original Gaelic spelling, where the mac (also an Irish word) is indeed separate from the forebear’s name, it is common and easy to have no space. Example, my surname of Brady, Mac Brádaigh has the space (my Irish family dropped the Mac long ago). A surname still preserving the Mac/Mc is McCarthy…in Irish it is Mac Cárthaigh. So if you choose to be consistent and use the modern version, remove the space. I have Irish cousins doing all of their names in Irish. They choose the space. Like all things in genealogy, picking one and being consistent seems to be the thing!
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