Unusual names, particularly middle ones, can sometimes provide clues to past ancestors. It's often worth taking note of these names, in case they're stumbled upon later as the surname of some distant relative. In some cases, the name simply carried significance to the person who was doing the naming. This particular ancestor's name is a case where I originally thought the first possibility was true but came across historical evidence that changed my mind.
Hugh McCloud "Mac" Bryan (1861 - 1940), my great-great grandfather, was the son of Anna Margaret Schnell, a German immigrant to Texas, and John Bryan, a New Yorker of Irish origin. His father John arrived in Texas in 1836 at the age of 25 to join the Texas Revolution, and it was John's Republic pension file that provided the surprising clue to the origin of Hugh's name. In 1841 John took part in a disastrous expedition to Santa Fe while serving in the Texan army. The members of the expedition were all captured, and marched south to imprisonment in Veracruz. The officer who led that expedition was a general named Hugh McLeod (which would be pronounced like "McCloud"). Like John Bryan, McLeod was also from New York.
In light of this discovery within the pension file, I think it possible and even very likely that John may have named his son after McLeod.
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