Family name origins & meanings
- Scottish and northern Irish : Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Ailpein (Scottish), Mac Ailpín (Irish) ‘son of Ailpean’, a personal name of uncertain etymology, possibly derived from alp ‘lump’. The personal name was borne by Pictish kings, one of whom, Kenneth, son of Ailpín, Ailpean, became the ruler of the united Picts and Scots and is regarded as the founder of the somewhat disparate clan of this name.