McKevitt is an Irish surname, found mainly in the northeastern area of Ireland. The family is a member of the ancient “Northern O’Néill” group of clans who resided in the Ulster province of Ireland. This surname is a variant of the name McDevitt, which itself is a side-branch of the larger O'Doherty family, who were the historic chiefs of the Inishowen peninsula in northern County Donegal. The McDevitt family name arose with the 1208 death of Davitt O’Doherty, a lesser chieftain of the O'Doherty family. Thus, McDevitt = son of Davitt. Within the McDevitt name, the later split in pronunciation (D or K) occurred in the mid-1600s. In 1608, the unsuccessful rebellion of Cahir O'Doherty (assisted by his kinsman Phelim Reagh MacDavitt), led to the seizure of the O’Doherty lands by the English, a