Family history clues.

Scotch Thistle. Creative commons free stock photo by Pixabay on Stockvault.net

Most family historians with Scottish heritage quickly become aware of traditional naming blueprints.  The one applied in most districts in both English and Gaelic linguistic traditions throughout the country, suggests that the eldest legitimate son be named for the father’s father, the second for the mother’s male parent and the third for the father, making allowances for possible duplications.  The same scheme is used for female children with the first named for the mother’s mother, the second for the father’ mother and the third for the mother.  Customarily other family names are given to subsequent children, often with each child’s godparents chosen from among relatives and friends bearing the selected forename. This routine was not applied rigidly in all generations, particularly if the mother’s or a patron’s connections were economically or socially wealthy when first-born may reflect their forenames.

Unfortunately, while this pattern was followed comprehensively it was never a legal requirement so sometimes children were baptized with names quite outside this model.  If this structure was followed slavishly, all first cousins would bear the same names creating untold confusion in each district unless delineated by a property name, a profession or some other distinguishing identification.  This practice often led to nicknames which I experienced firsthand when seeking to disentangle Stewarts in Glenlivet, an intriguingly hazardous task.  This minefield revealed that some surnames developed from illustrative enlightenments as exemplified by Armstrong, Longfellow, or at another place and another time, Holy Roman Emperors like Charlemagne – Big Charles or Charles the Great.  Similarly, a German successor was Frederick Barbarossa – Frederick Redbeard.  English kings for many years were affectionately descriptively styled as represented by Ethelred the Unready, Edward the Confessor, William the Conqueror and Richard the Lionheart.

Scottish Guard in Traditional uniform. Creative commons online image by ‘nityaaz’.

Additionally other customs assist searchers for Scottish forebears.  Surnames began to appear in the fourteenth century.  Then from as early as the mid-eighteenth century, middle names slowly gained popularity while additional praenomen generally did not feature further afield until around 1850.  Numbers of people born around the mid-nineteenth century often died with middle names which do not appear on birth or baptismal paperwork.  Often these extras were assumed at the time of marriage or perhaps coincided with the birth of children, while yet others embraced their confirmation saint’s designation.  Sadly, it appears that duplication of names has long been an occupational peril to entrap family detectives.

Another Scottish characteristic was to employ maiden surnames of wives and mothers as forenames.  This convention may have its roots in Scottish law which even now mainly accepts married women by their birth names, with any husband’s connections considered as an alias.  Examples can be exhaustive but do consider potential marriages in earlier generations if research shows sons designated Alexander, Angus, Bailey, Bruce, Douglas, Duncan, Fraser, Graham, Gordon, Keith, Lachlan, Leslie, Lindsay, Malcolm, Murdoch, Murray, Neill, Ross, Russell, Scott, Stewart or Wallace.  Ask why such names continue in your family.

In turn, the origin of many surnames will be familiar from three main recognizable areas.  The first descriptor relied on applying a patronymic – as in Anderson, Andrew’s son, not forgetting that Andrew was the patron saint of Scotland.  Mainly due to Viking influences, Robert/sons, John/sons, David/sons and Farquharsons also abound. Additionally, the prefix Mac long has denoted ‘son of’ with MacDonald, McKay, McKenzie, Maclean and McGregor (before it was proscribed) distributed widely. The second category evolved from professions with Smith – black, white, tin, gold/silver etc. smiths – being the predominant surname throughout the world.  Baker, Brewer, Cooper, Fletcher, Miller, Sailor, Gardener, Waterman and Wright belong to this group.  A third classification grew from geographical locations associating residential characteristics with occupiers.  Hill, Meadows, Oaks, Streets and Rivers developed from this application, as did borrowing county, town or village titles. Some families absorbed placenames as surnames like Angus, Argyll, Cargill, Carmichael, Dalziel, Methven, Munro, Ormiston, Sutherland, and Wedderburn among countless other habitation examples.

Further clues to identifying connections can be found in the preferred use of selected first names by particular families.  Here will be found the application of James and David by royal families while the McLeod’s favoured Roderick, many Campbell’s selected Allan with Cameron’s choosing Donald and David.

Additionally, as in England and Ireland, many kinfolks became strongly associated with an identifying district.  For example, Bruce, Elliot, Kerr, Douglas clans were well-known Borderers, many Kennedys lived in Galloway and Ayrshire, Frasers hailed from Lovatt, Lindsays mainly resided in Forfar/Angus, the McLeods in Skye and Lewis, while Ogilvies dwelt in Aberdeenshire and Petries traditionally came from Perthshire. Despite mobility over generations, finding your home territory usually will open pertinent areas of investigation.

Gretna Green. Creative commons image by Stephen Sweeney / The World Famous Old Blacksmith’s Shop / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Extensive Scottish migration throughout centuries has shared most of these names of Scottish origin throughout the world leading to strange anomalies as more Scottish Gaelic speakers currently are found in eastern Canada than in the homeland.  New Zealand also benefitted enormously from Scottish influences and placenames.  On the other hand, English, French and Viking cultures have all left their mark on Scottish naming patterns. These days the selection of first names may depend more on replicating those of Argentinian soccer players or woke rap stars than family traditions and Wilson may no longer denote a ‘little William’, but few would doubt the added research value of establishing and continuing customs for auld lang sine.

Further reading:
Black, George Fraser, The Surnames of Scotland, their Origin, Meaning and History, New York, New York Public Library, 1946.
Cottle, Basil, Names, Thames & Hudson, London, 1983.
Hamilton-Edwards, Gerald, In Search of Scottish Ancestry, Phillimore, Chichester Sussex, UK., 1972/1983.
Hanks, Patrick & Hodges, Flavia, A Dictionary of Surnames, Oxford University Press, Oxford UK.,1988/1996.