The Christian name Philip was brought to Britain and Ireland by the Normans in the 12th century and was soon gaelicised to Pilib.
[2][3][4] The McPhillips surname was found to be the 31st most numerous in County Monaghan in 1970.
[5] In Connacht, Phillips is an Anglicisation of McPhilbin which is one of the Hibernicised branches of the Burke clan.
The surname was used interchangeably with Mac Philib & McPhillips, but most later dropped the Mc/Mac prefix.
The most common version is McKillop, which can be represented in Scottish Gaelic as MacFhilib and MacPhilip.