MacDonald, Macdonald, and McDonald are Anglicised forms of the Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic name MacDhòmhnaill, which in modern Gaelic is approximated as McConnell. It is a patronym where Mac means "son" and Dhòmhnaill means "of Dòmhnall". The personal name Dòmhnall is composed of the elements domno "world" and val "might", "rule". According to Alex Woolf, the Gaelic personal name is probably a borrowing from the BritishDyfnwal.
The company was founded by John Griffin in 1975.The company operates a fleet of 4,000 vehicles with annual revenues of over £200m. As well as being a private hire operator, Addison Lee also operates a private coach company with a fleet of 100 coaches of various sizes. The company carries out over 20,000 jobs every day.