The name McCready may be a corrupted form of the name MacCrea of the MacCrae Clan. It also may have been derived of the name Redmond which was in itself corrupted from Red Mount or Ready-Mount which were the colors of the ponies and uniforms of their riders and speed and efficiencies of the soldiers respectively. The 'Readys' or 'Ready-Mounts' were like "minutemen" of American Revolution times. The Clan MacCrae were, from the fourteenth century, followers of MacKenzie of Kintail in Wester Ross. They were hereditary bodyguards to the chief of Clan MacKenzie and were known as 'MacKenzie's Shirt of Mail'. The clan name has been spelled: Macra, Macrach, Macrae, Macraith, Maccraw and so on.

In Ulster, as in Scotland, the name has often been shortened to Rea.

Apart from some of the name in Dublin, MacCready is found exclusively in Ulster where it originates. It is most common in counties Down, Derry, and Antrim. The name is in Irish: Mac Riada and should be properly: MacReedy, but the 'c' sound was carried over from the Mac- prefix.

Mac Riada was the name of a Donegal family who were erenaghs of the church lands of Tulloughobegley in the barony of Kilmacrenan. They were a distinguished sept, who were hereditary scribes and poets to the Kings of Orgiall and were displaced by the intrusion of Scottish families in what was known as the "Plantation of Ulster." Of this sept was Donagh MacReidy or MacCready of Coleraine, Dean of Derry, who was martyred for his faith in 1608 by being pulled apart by four horses. The Derry name Mac Conriada, more usually anglicised as Mac Conready and MacAready, has also been made MacCready. They moved to the northeast into Scotland and settled at Pierceton in Ayrshire where they also acquired territories in Stranrawer.

Some of the name in Ulster, Ireland will be of Scottish origin, for the form MacRedie is found in Ayrshire, Scotland on an 1120 A.D. census roll to determine the rate of taxation. The forms MacReadie and MacCreadie, are found in Galloway. But in Scotland it is of Irish origin, the first of the name being Andrew Macredie, Provost of Stranrawer (now Stranraer), an Irishman.

Many families migrated back to the ancestral home of Northern Ireland to flee religious persecution. A lot of them were banished from Scotland, to the Colonies, Australia, or to the Carolina's. During the U.S. war for independence, McCreadie allegiances were divided. Some remained American, while others became United Empire Loyalists and moved to Canada.

- (portions of this info furnished by Tracy McCrady-Daly).

Rathlin Island, Ireland