A Gaelic generalisation when describing the Viking invaders was by colouring, Finn Ghall for fair stranger and Dubh Ghall for a dark stranger. Dubh Ghall was the descriptive name given to the eldest son of King Somerled. Somerled’s father-in-law was Olaf, King of man and when Somerled died in 1164 Dougall became senior King of […]
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The MacColls are mostly considered to be descended from Clan Donald. In this large and powerful Clan the forename ‘Coll’ was common. It is also based on the evidence that they both have a sprig of common heather as their clan badge. According to the Gaelic manuscript of 1450 as quoted by W. F. Skene […]
The Duries are an old and honourable Scottish family. We trace our ancestry back as far at least as the 1260s. The name originated from the lands of Durie in Scoonie, Fife, which were granted by Regnold le Cheine to Gilbert son of Robert, Earl of Strathearn, as confirmed by the Earl of Carrick, son […]
The Stewart family records its traditional descent from Banquo, Thane of Lochaber, who makes an appearance as a character in William Shakespeare’s MacBeth. Historically, however, the family appears to be descended from an ancient family who were senechals of Dol in Brittany. They acquired lands in England after the Norman conquest and moved to Scotland […]
The name is variant of Ayton which derives from the lands of Ayton (the town on the river Eye) in Berwickshire. Steffan, son of Swan de CEitun granted a charter of the lands of Wytefeld to the Priory of Coldingham in 1170 or thereabouts. Dolfinus de eit’ and HeI de eitun were witnesses to a […]
Newlands, or Nielands, is also the name of an old barony in the sheriffdom of Kincardine, and in Peebles-shire a parish, so it may be the case that the surname is of territorial origin, however it is unsure. In the 1500s the name was quite common in Glasgow, and it was also once relatively common […]
Kennedy comes from the flattering Gaelic word cinneidigh, which in ancient Ireland meant “ugly headed”. Crossing the Irish Sea to settle in an area of Dalriada now called Carrick in Ayrshire, they were probably led by Gilbert, whose son Duncan became the 1st Earl of Carrick in the 12th century. They supported the Bruces before […]
Descended from the Norse kings of Man and the North Isles, the clan of MacLeod comprised two main branches, the MacLeods of Skye and the MacLeods of Lewis. The MacLeods of Skye established the seat at Dunvegan, which remains the chief’s seat to this day. The name of this branch of the MacLeod clan, “Siol […]
The Clan MacMillan has its roots in an ancient royal house and from the orders of the Celtic church. The progenitor of the clan was Gillie Chriosd, one of the sons of the Cormac, the Bishop of Dunkeld. As a Columban priest, his head would have been shaved over the front of his head, rather […]
