Can my gmail account be transferred from a Mac book to iPad?

Simply add your Gmail account to your iPad:

Add an email account to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

Google have changed their authentication requirements for Google Mail (Gmail) mail accounts configured for password authentication. For non-Google mail clients, you may now need to use an App Specific password for each mail client/device. 

Should you need to generate a unique password for your iPad Gmail account - it will differ from your normal Google Account Password. To generate an App Specific Password, you’ll need to log-in to your Google Account management webpage - using a web browser - and generate the Password from the appropriate account security page.

More information can be found here:

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/185833?hl=en-GB

What do you mean by transfer?

If the type of Gmail account on your Mac Is IMAP (VicePOP3) the if you add that same Gmail account to your iPad also as an IMAP account the Gmail messages on the server (which are synced to your Mac because that is what IMAP does) will be downloaded to your iPad. It will take a little time and the time depends upon how many messages you have on the server (the Mac)