Sons of the Servants of St. Bridget

The McBride's were an early Scottish clan. Many of these clans looked to a patron saint as a source of unity. Our clan adopted St. Bridget as their patron. Who was St. Bridget? Bridget was a famous Abbess of Kildare, Ireland. She died in 525 A.D. This is the entry on St. Bridget in the Catholic Encyclopedia:

St. Bridget arrived in Ireland a few years after St. Patrick. Her father was an Irish lord named Duptace. As Bridget grew up, she became holier and more pious each day. She loved the poor and would often bring food and clothing to them. One day she gave away a whole pail of milk, and then began to worry about what her mother would say. She prayed to the Lord to make up for what she had given away. When she got home, her pail was full! Bridget was a very pretty young girl, and her father thought that it was time for her to marry. She, however, had given herself entirely to God when she was very small, and she would not think of marrying anyone. When she learned that her beauty was the reason for the attentions of so many young men, she prayed fervently to God to take it from her. She wanted to belong to Him alone. God granted her prayer. Seeing that his daughter was no longer pretty, her father gladly agreed when Bridget asked to become a Nun. She became the first Religious in Ireland and founded a convent so that other young girls might become Nuns. When she consecrated herself to God, a miracle happened. She became very beautiful again! Bridget made people think of the Blessed Mother because she was so pure and sweet, so lovely and gentle. They called her the "Mary of the Irish."

 A story, I'm sure, that loses nothing in the telling. The clan was so zealous in their devotion to St. Bridget that it came to define them. They were known as the Gillebride, in other words "Servants of Bridget" or "Followers of Saint Bridget," "gille" being a Gaelic word for "servant," and "bride" a contracted form of "Bridget." Clan surnames like this (with the word "servant" or "devotee" followed by the name of a saint) were fairly common. Their descendants were often known as Macgillbride (or the Irish equivalent "Mac Giolla Bhride"), or "Sons of the Followers of Bridget," and eventually McBride. I imagine the the celibate Bridget might have rankled at the idea of this group calling themselves "Sons of Bridget." Libelous!

Dictionaries of patronymic names suggest that the following additional names are all variations on this theme: Mac Bride, St. Bridget, McBrides, Mac Brides, Mc Bryde, Bride, Brides, Bridget, Bridgets, Bryget, Bryde and Brydes, Mac Kilbride, Killbride, Bridie, Brydie, Bridey, and McBryd. The McBride name in its current formulation (if not exact spelling--"McBryd") originated in 1329 in Scotland.