McCandless (surname)


McCandless is a Gaelic surname, both Irish
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 and occasionally Scottish. It is the Anglicized form of the Middle Irish Mac Cuindlis 'son of Cuindleas', an Old Irish given name of uncertain meaning.

Distribution and variants

In historical census and other data, the name is mostly confined to the province of Ulster, especially County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland, and counties Antrim, Down, and Londonderry in Northern Ireland. Some variants include McCandlis, McCanlis, McAndless, McAnliss, McCandlass, McCandliss, McCanliss, and McAndles, among others. Spellings with Mac were believed to be extinct by the first half of the 20th century, but still survive among a few families, primarily in Canada. As with other names of this sort, versions with M' were also attested until the early 20th century.
The name is closely related to McCandlish, from the same derivation but primarily found in Scotland. Some other recorded Scottish variants are more similar to McCandless, e.g. McCanleis and McCaunles, and some in the north of Ireland closer to McCandlish, e.g. McCandleish. McCandless itself is also thinly attested in Scotland.
The name is etymologically but probably not familially related to the Ó Cuindlis, a literary family of Uí Mháine in west-central Ireland. The earliest form of the given name can be traced back to an abbot from the 8th century called Cuindles.

Notable McCandlesses