McLean

name

The verdict

“McLean” is uncommon French (frequency #61,685 among 202,672 “M” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#61,685
frequency rank, French
202,672
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Nom de famille écossais.

Key facts for McLean
PropertyValue
HeadwordMcLean
LanguageFrench
Part of speechProper noun
Letters6
Frequency rank#61,685
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “McLean” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). McLean lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

McLean is uncommon French at frequency #61,685 among 202,672 “M” headwords, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Nom de famille écossais.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for McLean in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is McLean, spelled M-C-L-E-A-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Nom de famille écossais.

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "McLean"?
"McLean" is spelled M-C-L-E-A-N.
What does "McLean" mean?
As a proper noun, "McLean" means: Nom de famille écossais.
What language does "McLean" come from?
"McLean" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

Using “McLean”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is M-C-L-E-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words

Other uncommon French words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list