From a Scottish surname meaning son of Fhionghuin or kin-descendant, now used as a given name.
Mckinnon is a Scottish Gaelic clan surname now used as a given name, belonging to the long tradition of transferring noble and regional family names into the given-name position. The name derives from the Gaelic Mac Fhionghuin, meaning "son of Fionnghuin" — Fionnghuin being a personal name composed of fionn ("fair," "white," "bright") and ghuin or guin ("born"), yielding the sense of "fair-born" or "born of brightness."
The MacKinnon clan historically held lands on the Isle of Mull and the Isle of Skye in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, and their castle, Dun Ara on Mull, stands as testament to centuries of Highland lineage. The MacKinnon name weaves through Scottish history at significant moments: clan members fought at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 and at Culloden in 1746, and Clan Chief John MacKinnon is said to have sheltered Bonnie Prince Charlie during his flight after Culloden, an act of loyalty that resulted in his own imprisonment in the Tower of London. The name traveled widely through Scottish emigration to North America, Australia, and New Zealand, where it established deep roots as both a surname and, increasingly, a given name. As a first name, Mckinnon carries the Scottish Highland tradition of strong, landscape-rooted identity into new contexts — it reads as both proudly Celtic and bracingly modern, a surname-name that wears its heritage without apology.