Hunter
An English, Irish and Scottish surname. The English surname derived from hunta meaning ‘to hunt, huntsman’. The Scottish surname of similar derivation. The oldest family of the surname was to be found in Hunterston in Ayshire. Mac Giolla-Domhnaigh states that in Ulster the surname is the anglicised form of Mac Fhiachra, a sept of the Cineál Eoghain, who were anciently chiefs of Cinel Fearadhaigh, in the Barony of Clogher in Tyrone (such surname more usually anglicised as MacKeighry, or MacKeefrey, or MacKeary). In 1890 Hunter was principally found in Antrim, Derry and Down, and the estimated number of bearers was 4,255. In the United States it is the 130th most numerous surname with an estimated 189,750 bearers. In England and Wales in 1996 it was the 147th most numerous surname. In Scotland in 1995 it was the 37th most numerous surname.