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From:
Subject: Re: Lowland Vesrus Highland Surnames in Scotland
Date: 1 Aug 2005 07:10:08 -0700
References: <1122735106.815494.256330@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> <42ecc366$0$13697$cc9e4d1f@news-text.dial.pipex.com> <lEMvnKApoO7CFwOZ@varneys.demon.co.uk>
In-Reply-To: <lEMvnKApoO7CFwOZ@varneys.demon.co.uk>
>Actually, I bet you there are more people in Scotland with a
> Mc or Mac surname than all those combined holding a surname in the top ten of your list above.
>>I would very much doubt that. The surnames Smith, Brown et al, are very
>>much more common. A look at any Scottish phonebook will show you >> that,
>>even though the "M/Mc" section is the biggest, it is overwhelmed by the
>>others. And, of course, the M/Mc section has lots of other common
>>surnames, such as my own.
I agree with Aine. I run a surname distribution website and here are my
findings to date with 900 surnames added to the database -
Surnames begining with Mac (24185)
Surnames begining with Mc (76604)
Surnames begining with Mac and Mc (100789)
Surnames begining with O' (5189)
Surnames ending with son (94044)
1. Smith (17025)
2. Brown (12030)
3. Wilson (11337)
4. Robertson (10360)
5. Thomson (9949)
6. Campbell (9893)
7. Stewart (9221)
8. Anderson (9034)
9. Scott (7372)
10. Murray (6916)
23. McDonald (4783)
26. Macdonald (4630)
53. MacDonald (2570)
Mac/Mc surnames are very common in the West of Scotland, all the way
down to the border. Mc surnames make up somewhere in the order of one
third of the South West population as far as my results are concerned.
Surnames ending with son are very common along the East coast. Smith,
Wilson and Brown are all very common throughout Scotland and with
respect to local population I would not define them as being either
Lowland or Highland inclined. Likewise for Robertson, Thomson and
Anderson, although they are exceptionally common on the Shetlands.
Stewart and Campbell are more common in Central or Northern Scotland.
Scott is a South East or Orkney surname mainly. Obviously most people
live in the Lowlands, just like most people in Ireland live around
Dublin or Belfast. But a few hundred years ago most people in Ireland
lived in the western half of the country, so its much more interesting
to examine a surname in terms of it percentage in a particular area
rather than its numbers. Its interesting also to compare maps for
surnames like McAdam and Adams as they suggest that both surnames have
their source in Mac Adaim. I'll add McMorris shortly in order to
compare it with Morrisson. Morrison and Morris don't seem all that
related, although they may be related in certain areas.
My website is located at - http://baz.perlmonk.org
The Scottish database at -
http://baz.perlmonk.org/surnames_alba.cgi?view=alpha
These pages often experiences capacity problems; if encountered please
call back later.
Slan,
Barra.
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