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The original Gaelic form of McAtee was Ó Maoltuile or Mac Maoltuile. While tuile means flood, this element of the name, in this case probably represents toile, the genitive form of toil which means will. Thus the name probably means the will of God.
The surname McAtee was first found in County Galway (Irish: Gaillimh) part of the province of Connacht, located on the west coast of the Island, where they held a family seat from ancient times.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our McAtee research. Another 143 words (10 lines of text) covering the year 1691 is included under the topic Early McAtee History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
People who were accounted for by scribes and church officials often had their name recorded many different ways because pronunciation was the only guide those scribes and church officials had to go by. This resulted in the problem of one person's name being recorded under several different variations, creating the illusion of more than one person. Among the many spelling variations of the surname McAtee that are preserved in archival documents are MacAtilla, MacTully, Tully, Multilly, MacTorley and many more.
More information is included under the topic Early McAtee Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
In the United States, the name McAtee is the 6,954th most popular surname with an estimated 4,974 people with that name. 1
Irish families left their homeland in astonishing numbers during the 19th century in search of a better life. Although individual reasons vary, most of these Irish families suffered from extreme poverty, lack of work opportunities, and exorbitant rents in their homeland. Many decided to travel to Australia or North America in the hopes of finding greater opportunities and land. The Irish immigrants that came to North America initially settled on the East Coast, often in major centers such as Boston or New York. But like the many other cultures to settle in North America, the Irish traveled to almost any region they felt held greater promise; as a result, many Irish with gold fever moved all the way out to the Pacific coast. Others before that time left for land along the St. Lawrence River and the Niagara Peninsula, or the Maritimes as United Empire Loyalists, for many Irish did choose to side with the English during the American War of Independence. The earliest wave of Irish migration, however, occurred during the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s. An examination of early immigration and passenger lists has revealed many people bearing the McAtee name: