The Scottish and Irish surname McNaughton is an anglicized form of the Gaelic name Mac Neachtain, a patronymic from the personal name Neachtan, a name of the god of water in Irish mythology. This is cognate with Latin Neptunus “Neptune,” the Roman sea-god. The earliest record of the name is in Scotland in 1431 when Donald MacNachtane, the dean of Dunkeld is recorded in the Papal Registers of Great Britian and Ireland. Some MacNaughtons migrated from Scotland to Antrim in the 14th century, becoming early "planters" and today the name in Ireland is mainly associated with the northern province of Ulster.