4,293 Global MCKIM Family Members

MCKIM Family History

This is a Scottish surname which is also well recorded in Northern Ireland. It derives from the Gaelic "MacShim", and translates as the son of Sim, a short form of Simon. This baptismal name was rarely found in the British Isles before the famous crusades to the Holy land in the 11th and 12th centuries. Thereafter it became very popular for returning soldiers or pilgrims, to call their children by biblical or Greek names, in commemoration of the fathers exploits. This fashion spread so quickly through Europe that within two generations such names as John, Thomas, and Simon, had replaced over half the traditional Gaelic, French, German, and Anglo-Saxon names.