Kilbride Family History

Irish (Connacht) and Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Giolla Brighde (Irish) or Mac Gille Brighde (Scottish) ‘son of the servant of (Saint) Brigit’ also often shortened and Anglicized as McBride. The name Brigit means ‘exalted’. Brigit was originally a pagan goddess many of whose attributes such as a sacred fire became attached to the historical figure of Saint Brigit of Kildare (452–523), founder of the first Irish convent.

Scottish: habitational name from any of various places with this name from Gaelic Cill Bríghde ‘church of Saint Brigit’ (cill being from Latin cella ‘room, cell’), for example Kilbride in Lanarkshire.