Frequency: (1567)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. English: from the Old Norse personal name Mundi, a short form of the various compound names containing the element mundr ‘protection’.
2. English: nickname for someone who had a particular association with this day of the week (Old English mōnandæg ‘day of the moon’), normally because he owed feudal service then. It was considered lucky to be born on a Monday.
3. Irish (Ulster): quasitranslation of Mac Giolla Eoin ‘son of the servant of Eoin’, by confusion of the last part of the name with Irish Luain ‘Monday’.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
