Maccus Explained

Maccus is a personal name which is first attested and possibly coined in the tenth century.^[1] The name Maccus, later also written as Mac(c)hus, was especially common in the Border country.

People with the given name

• Maccus mac Arailt (fl. 971–974), also Maccus Haraldsson
• Maccus son of Anlaf, named as Eric Bloodaxe's murderer
• Maccus, a minor thane who fought at the Battle of Maldon and is mentioned in the poem of the same name

Place names

• Longformacus (Scottish Gaelic Longphort Maccus)
• Maxton (English Maccuses tun)
• Maxwell(town) (Maccuses wylle).

In fiction

• Maccus or Macchus, a stock character in Atellan Farce and a related figure in puppetry

Notes and References

1. David E. Thornton, "Hey Mac! The name Maccus, tenth to fifteenth centuries." Nomina 20 (1997-9): 67-94, with appendix by O.J. Padel on Talkarn Mackus, 95-8.