This unusual name is a variant, anglicized form of the Gaelic (Scottish) name 'MacIlriach', also found as 'MacIlwraith' and 'MacIlaraith'. The name derives from the Gaelic 'Mac 'Ille riabhaich', meaning 'son of (the) brindled lad'. The name is well recorded in many variant forms in Scotland; Matthew Micklewrath and Donald Miklewrock in the parish of Colmonel were shot for being Covenanters in 1685, and Sir Walter Scott gave the name Habbakuk Mucklewrath to the fanatical leader of the covenanters in his 'Old Mortality'. The anglicized form, with the 'o' and 'r' of the ending 'worth' transposed, is recorded in the form of Walter Mackelworth, christened in London in January 1797. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Make Gille Reve, which was dated 1300, Documents - History of Scotland, during the reign of Interregnum, (1296 - 1306): King Edward I, The Hammer of the Scots, Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.1272 - 1307.

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