THE EVOLUTION OF GAELIC SURNAMES IN KINTYRE
A.I.B. Stewart

     I approach this essay with more than usual diffidence as I have no gaelic and less knowledge of philology.

      But a study of the early lists of Kintyre tenants has provoked certain thoughts which may be worth further examination by experts.

     The earliest list is dated 1505 and was made at Kilkerran (Campbeltown) by the second Earl of Argyll, (the Crown Chamberlain appointed on the forfeiture in 1493 of John Macdonald Fourth and last Lord of the Isles) and David, Bishop of Argyll. (Exchequer Rolls XII.352 et seq).

      In this list the 12 merkland of Carskey and Mull of Kintyre is shown as occupied by Hector McIain MacGilliecallum. He was in fact a McNeill and is given this name later in the list where he appears with the Earl as joint guarantor for Donald McGillicallum McGorre tenant of the 17 mkland of Killeonan. Although they did not trouble to get a feudal charter till 1700 McNeills continued to occupy Carskey till the male line failed in 1824.

     In 1541 the tenant of Killeonan is shown as Cory McNeill McIllchallum. In 1596 trust of this holding was occupied by Donald Dow McNeill. In 1605 it was said to be waste but in a decree obtained by the Earl against his Kintyre tenants in 1609 the occupier is naned as Gillichollum McNeil McGorrie McNeill. In 1636 the occupier of inter alia 8 mklands of Killeonan is Archibald Roy McOlchallum.

     Killeonan appears to have been an important McNeill holding and it was there in 1594 that a Bond of Manrent was entered into between Sir James MacDonald, last of the MacDonalds of Kintyre, and various leading McNeills. I suggest that all the above named persons were really McNeills, that Archibald was the son of Malcolm McNeill; that the successors may have been Malcolm, Neil, Gorrle, Neil Malcolm & Archibald and that since at that period patronymics were becoming fixed as surnames Archibald and his descendants became McCallums.

     It is not surprising that in the vicinity of Kilcolmkill, Southend, Kintyre, the traditional first landing place in Scottish Dalriada of St. Columba, there should be a special devotion to the Saint and that Gillecallum should be a popular christian name and that MacGilliecallum shortened to Mc0lchallum and eventually to McCallum should become the commonest local surname.

     The names of the tenants in Gartingerriche in 1636 namely Gillicallim Mcgougane, Gillaspic McCallim and Neil McCallim suggest that any Gillicallum (Malcolm) could give rise to a family of McCallums.

     Gorry was also at one time a popular McNeill Christian name and it seems to me probable that the 1505 Gillaspic Makquhar, Gillicallum McNeill McQuhore and Donald McGillicallum McGorre were in fact all McNeills. Some of them were no doubt ancestors of McWarrichis and McWhirries who eventually became Englished as Curries. The name Weir which occurs as early as 1636 with Gillicallim Weir in Borgadale and which recurs over the centuries may derive from the same source. In North Kintyre Curries may have derived from the McAllisters of Loup with whom ‘Godfrey’ or ‘Gorrie’ was even commoner than with the McNeills.

     Most writers warn against confusing Maceachan, the family which held Tangy up to 1709 with Maceachran who had the lands of Killellan from at least 1499 up to 1740, apart from a forfeiture after Dunaverty. In Roman times Kintyre was known as the land of the Epidii, the horse people, and both names obviously derive from ‘each’, a horse, though Maceachan is translated as son of Hector while Maceachran is said to mean ‘son of the horse Lord’.

     It seems to me that an examination of the lists suggests that both names have a common origin and, in view of the fact chat ‘Hector’ is the most persistent McNeill name, that they might well originally have derived from a Hector McNeill, although I hasten to add there is no evidence for this latter proposition.

     Colin Maceachran of Killellan, Mair of Fee of South Kintyre, is named with others of his family in the 1505 list, but the possessor of the neighbouring lands now known as Uigle and Auchencorvie is named as Gillaspie Makachane though elsewhere he is named Gillespie McAcherne with Colin McAcharne as surety. And is there any doubt that Acharne McGollin, surety for the tenant of Lephenstrath was the son of Colin McEachran of Killellan?

     Others who appear in the lists are as follows:-

     In 1596 the two latter holdings are tenanted by Angus Maknachan or McNachan, and in 1605 by John Dow McNachane and Angus McNachtane, respectively, though later in the list Kerrameanach is said to be tenanted by John McKecherane. Are the two Johns the same?

     By 1636 the joint tenants of Garrvaich and Kerromenach are shown as John Dow McNachtane, Gillendreis McNachtane and Angus McNachtane, and McNaughtons continued to farm in the district for the next two hundred years.

    One is bound to note the interchangeability in earlier years of the names McEachan and McEachran, and apparently the eventual adoption by some bearers of the earlier forms of the name McNaughton. On the basis of the evidence it can, I think, be stated with confidence that these Kintyre McNaughtons had no connection with Dunderave, or with the Pict Nechtan from whom Black derives this surname. In South Kintyre at least it would appear to have come from an Eachan or Hector.

     In North Kintyre and Knapdale the name McKichan no doubt derived from another Hector who may have been either a McNeill or a McAllister. This form in some cases became McKeich, McKeith and finally Keith.

     Another name of local interest is McVicar, which first occurs in the person of Gilquhane McVicar, joint tenant with Hector McNeill, Carskey, of the Mull of Kintyre in 1591. However it is to be noted that in 1505 the Rector of Kilblaan (Southend) was Sir Morice McNeill who had a let of the Kilblaan lands. He died in 1527 and was succeeded by Gillicallum McNeill alias McPersone who was tenant of Kilchattan, Cristlach and Dalnauchleik, also in the Southend district. We can see the tentative adoption of the surname McPherson by the son of a parson and no doubt the McVicars got their name in the same way and perhaps even from the same man. Certainly there were in later times strong family connections between the Carskey McNeills and the McVicar family.

     By 1636 the old 4 mkland of the Mull of Kintyre occupied in 1505 by Hector McNeill, Carskey, and Neil McMolan had been divided into several small farms named after their occupiers, Ballevcviccar, Ballevcilconeltiche and Ballevccumbra; the occupiers of the first named being Jon McViccar, Hew McViccar and Duncane his brother.

     The descendants of the occupiers of the other two farms eventually became Conleys and Montgomerys respectively.

     A number of McMillans with various spellings are shown in the 1505 lists. They were obviously then a family of some importance in South Kintyre and I suggest that they, like the Kintyre McCallums and McEachrans, may well have had a local origin and did not necessarily immigrate from Knapdale.

     It may be noted that “McKay”, one of whom had received a charter from Robert Bruce, seems to have been stabilised as a surname earlier than most of the others. In 1541, apart from McKaymore himself in Ardnacross, there are numerous McKays, particularly in North Kintyre, identified only by a Christian name. Two have the descriptive names of “Dow” and “Bain” attached but only one, the chief’s son, has a patronymic, “John Evirmore McKay”. By 1605 McAllister or McAlester is also becoming fixed as a surname.

     Kintyre was of course McDonald country but only the head of the family and his nearest of kin bore the name. In 1609 we find Angus Illiche McGillispick McInnes Illiche McDonald and Alester Oig McIlliespick vc Angus Tilliche (sic). The original Angus Ilach was a younger son of Iain Cathanach MacDonald of Dunnyveg and the Glens, executed for treason by James IV in 1496, and was the founder of the Sanda family. Alester Oig above mentioned was the second in descent being as indicated the son of Archibald who was the son of Angus of Islay. Alester was in due course succeeded by his son Archibald Mor who, with his son Archibald Oig, perished at Dunaverty. The Angus Illiche of 1609 was his younger brother.

     The most important cadet branch of the Macdonalds in Kintyre - that of Largie, descended from Ranald Bane, a younger son of John Mor and Marjorie Bisset of Antrim and a grandson of John of Islay 1st Lord of the Isles. The head of this family in 1505 is named Donald McRynald Waan (McRanald Bane) and. designed simply as the Laird of Largie in 1596 and 1605. It is not till 1636 that the name is written fully as Alexander MacDonald, Laird of Largie.

    cSuch persistent local names as Omey and MaShannon (then McO’Sennage) had already been fixed in 1505 but Macgillaspick does not seem to have survived, even as Gillespie, till 1541.

     Andrew MeKerral in “Kintyre in the Seventeenth Century” suggests that certain names including McCallum, McTavish and McConnachie came with the Campbells and that in particular Campbell of Inverawe brought the name McConnachie when he got a lease of 52 merklands of the forfeited Largie Estates in 1652. He was known as the MacConachie.

     The list of 1636 is the first that actually shows “the poor people that labouris the ground” as distinct from tacksmen. It contains some five hundred names and only one Campbell. There are however a number of the names of McCallim, McAvis and Mcconachie or Mcdonachie. The name of Duncan Mcondoquhy Vane appears as early as 1605 in Kildavie though this farm is occupied by McNeills in 1609 and 1619. In the last two lists Donald McEanne vic Dondochie Kay and Donald McCondochie vic Can, presumably the same man and a McKay, is the tenant of Peninver etc., but if in these cases the name is clearly a patronymic, it would appear to have been fixed as a surname in 1636.

     What is remarkable is how many of the names in the 1636 list survive today in Kintyre though sometimes in a slightly altered form. McQuilkan, McKillop, McFater, McKendrick, McMurchy, McKerral, Sinclair, McKelvie, McGougan, McInnes, Gilchrist, McSporran, Matheson (in the form of McMath) Stalker (McStokkir) McIlchere, McKinlay, McLarty, McTaggart (then McIntaggirt) Kelly (then Okaldie) Taylor (then Mcintailer) McKellar McIvor Hyndman in addition to others mentioned above all occur in the 1636 list and are still well known in Kintyre while Neill McVretnich has no doubt Galbraith descendants to carry on the name.

     The O’Brolachans however have be:ome Brodies and the O’Loynachans (not mentioned in 1636) are Langs, while the O’ Dreans became Hawthornes. The McCambridges are no longer here, though they flourish in County Antrim and there are no McMarcuses though the Mcillephadris and Mcillephaddirs may be represented by the modern Patersons and the Mcillemarteines by the Martins.

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Page  2:   A Maker of Illicit Stills

Page  3:   Campbeltown's Protestant Churches - A Brief History

Page  4:   Some Descendants of Lachlan McNeill Buidhe

Page  5:   Kintyre's "Subtropical" Image // Psalm Practice Verses

Page  6:   The Blues of North Kintyre

Page  8:   By Hill and Shore - Meanders from Mr. Angus Martin

Page  9:   One Interesting e-mail //  Machrihanish to Southend: The Townships // Some Bits and Bobs

Page 10:  The McShannons of Kintyre - Harpers to Tacksmen