McIntyre, MacAteer, Mac an tSaoir
A Gaelic surname both Irish and Scots, meaning son of the craftsman (from saor meaning ‘mason, carpenter’). There may have been several Ulster septs, there is a Ballymacateer in Armagh. The Scottish sept was from Glenoe, near Bunawee, Nether Lorn, Argyllshire. In 1890 McIntyre was principally found in Derry, Antrim and Sligo, and the estimated number of bearers was 2,600. In the United States McIntire is the 3,160th most numerous surname with an estimated 11,000 bearers. In Scotland in 1995 McIntyre was the 94th most numerous surname.