What's In A Name?

What's In A Name? I'm going to be referring mainly to Scottish Surnames here, but you might have one of those even though you live in a land far, far away, because what was formerly called the British Empire, was largely created by Scotsmen and Scottish colonists. And, you don't necessarily have to have a Surname beginning with Mc or Mac for it to be Scottish. If you thought that was the case then you have been misled by popular culture.

Scottish Surnames fall into several categories:

• Patronymics - Taken from the fathers forename, for instance, where the father was called Donald, the surname derived from him could be; McDonald, MacDonald, Donaldson or just Donald.
• Occupations - Examples are; Wright (Carpenter), Skinner, Baxter (Female Baker) and the most common of all, Smith (Blacksmith).
• Place Names - Scottish Surnames derived from places near where I live include; Cullen, Fordyce, Keith and Findlater.
• Physical Charcteristics - Primarily hair colours such as Reid, Brown, Gray and Black or the Gaelic: Bowie - Blond or fair-haired and Duff - Black. Names such as Campbell and Cameron are supposed to translate as Crooked Mouth and Crooked Nose.

Of course there are other Scottish Surnames which do not fall into those categories, but in general most do. Also, should you find that you do have a Scottish Surname and particularly one which is fairly common, do not assume that you are therefore related to everyone who shares that Surname, because the same name may have several origins. For instance, my own Surname, Wilson, is believed to be derived from an Earl of Innes named William way back in the 14th or 15th Century. Yet, the name also originated in Caithness with the Clan Gunn, and other instances of the name originate early on in Glasgow, Dundee and also down in England.

My wife also has the rather rare Surname, Maver, the origins and meaning of which are highly questionable, but her family has been in Scotland since at least 1440, and yet the same name is prolific in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovakia, with apparently no connection whatsoever. Very odd!