From "A Brief Sketch of the McConnell Family"
by R. Kirk and Rev. E.W.J. McConnell
Explanations for the origin of the McConnell name differ.
"It is quite likely that all McConnells, whether they come from Scotland or Ireland and whether they be Catholic or Protestant, are descended from Alexander Konnell Laird of Dunnevig and the Glens, Scotland and Ireland respectively."
McConnell is another way of spelling MacDonnell. There is no such name as MacDonnell or MacDonald in Gaelic. In that language the name is spelled MacDhonhnuill, meaning brown eyes and is pronounced as though it were spelled MacHonnell, which is practically the same as MacConnell. The Mc is an abbreviation of Mac and means "son of."
Whichever explanation is correct, the McConnells were a sept or division of the MacDonald clan and our branch comes from Clan Donald South of which Sir Walter Scott in his poem "Pibroch of Donald Dhu" calls this branch Clan Conuil as appears in the first stanza:
(A pibroch is a piece of music for the bagpige, usually martial in character.)
Probroch of Donald Dhu A Pibroch of Donuil Wake they wild voice anew, Summon Clan Conuil.
From the coat of arms of the Clan McConnell of Dunneveg we learn that the red lion rampant in the first quarter (for it is in four quarters) indicates that it is from the house of Stewarts through marriage of John Mohr, John Lord of the Isles to Princess Margaret, daughter of King Robert I of Scotland. The second quarter shows a hand grasping a crosslet. This device shows descent from the Dalriadic Prince Conal who reigned 560 to 574 A.D. and under whose protection St. Columbia introduced Christianity into Scotland.
The first three chiefs of Clan Donald South were not named McConnell, but the clan was then called Clan Ian Mhoir or Clan John Moore as it is in English.
Ian Mhoir Tanistear, the founder of Clan Ian Mhoir, the second son of John, Lord of the Isles, by his marriage with Princess Stewart of Scotland, daughter of King Robert II, received from his father 120 markels of land in Kintrye, the rocky peninsula of Scotland which approaches within eighteen miles off the shores of Ireland. A portion of this rocky promontory was later called Connel after Alexander Konnel, Chief of the Clan Ian Mhoir.
Into this heritage Alexander Konnell (the fourth chief of Clan Ian Mhoir) entered sometime before May sixth 1520 for at that time Alexander Konnell, with his hand upon his pen, promised that he would be to Sir John Campbell a cuming man and servand himself and all his branch of the Clay Donyl that he is cuming of. This is the first time the name Konnel (from which the name McConnell is derived) is mentioned in history.
He was not allowed to keep his possessions in peace. He fought first with the Campbells, then became involved with King James of England, reversing the position of the first chief of Clan Ian Mhoir. As a result, he was obliged to allow his son James to be held in the English court as a hostage. Here his son became very popular and was educated under Dean Henderson, the first connection of the McConnells with the Hendersons.
