McGonagall

name

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"mcgonagall" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“McGonagall” is uncommon English (frequency #63,788 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#63,788
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A surname.

Corpus desk

Index EN-mcgonagall · McGonagall · English

McGonagall · rank #63,788 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #63,788
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH marshland

Nearest frequency peer: marshland (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “McGonagall”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “McGonagall” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for McGonagall
PropertyValue
HeadwordMcGonagall
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters10
Frequency rank#63,788
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “McGonagall” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).McGonagallfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “marshland” (#63,787), “Marsala” (#63,786), “maron” (#63,785). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “McGonagall” is #63,788. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

McGonagall is uncommon English at frequency #63,788 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A surname.".

McGonagall doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: Variant of McGonagle. The correct English form is McGonagall, spelled M-C-G-O-N-A-G-A-L-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    A surname.

Etymology

Variant of McGonagle.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "McGonagall"?
"McGonagall" is spelled M-C-G-O-N-A-G-A-L-L.
What does "McGonagall" mean?
As a proper noun, "McGonagall" means: A surname.
What is the origin of the word "McGonagall"?
Variant of McGonagle. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "McGonagall", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

microarray#63,797northerner#63,846italicized#63,712inveterate#63,707

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list