A History of Scottish Surnames

By Guy Scott

Scotland has a very curious history. It has basically five founding tribes or ethnic groups that eventually fused together into two distinct groupings. Northern Scotland or the Highlands were composed of two groups: The Picts and the Scotti. The Picts were an obscure historical group who faded from history about 1,000 years ago. They were basically absorbed by a group of settlers called the Scots who migrated from Ireland 1,500 years ago and first settled in the western islands of Scotland. The Lowlands were divided into three groups: Britons, Vikings and Angles. The Britons were residents of Britain prior to Roman contract and were a Celtic group like the Scots. The Angles were German invaders who replaced the Romans/Britons in south-eastern Scotland. The Vikings or Norse were invaders who occupied the northern islands and assimilated among the other groups.

The name of “Scotland” was born in the 900s as the Highland kings eventually conquered the Lowlands. Thus, a united Scotland emerged about 1,000 years ago. Many of the Highlanders spoke an ancient Celtic language, but the lowlanders adopted what is now an archaic version of English. Today most Scots speak English with a sharp accent.

All this history led to a curious mix of Surnames. Like their English neighbours, the Scots developed surnames among several basic groupings. The Highlanders refused to adopt surnames until the 1700s, using just a first name. Since the list of “acceptable” surnames was very limited, confusion reigned among the Highlands. They often used nicknames such as “old, young, red, black, etc.” to identify. The (British) government finally ordered the Highland clans to use surnames, so they simply added their clan name. Thus, most of the ‘Mac’ prefixes so common among the Scots originated in the Highland zone. We have a plethora of MacDonald, MacGregor, MacKenzie, MacLaughlin, MacRae, MacKee, MacLelland, MacMillan, MacIntosh, MacPherson, MacNeil, etc. These names could simply mean “son of.” A word on spelling: The official Scottish registrar of titles states the proper spelling is “Mac.” “Mc” is considered to be Irish. But spelling being a long-time weakness in our society, the spellings have varied greatly over the years. There were a few common surname/clan names among the Highlandenrs that did not use the “Mac” prefix. Campbell and Fraser are two examples.

But, oddly enough, the traditional list of Scottish surnames listed previously are not the most common in Scotland, only MacDonald (10 and 32) makes the list. The Lowlanders have long outnumbered the Highlanders, and they use a completely different surname system based on the English influence. The English used 4 types of surnames based on Occupation, Place of Residence, Nicknames, Son of. As you can see by the following list, the Lowland surnames look remarkably similar to English surnames with some additions such as Bell, Ross, Hamilton, Alexander, Graham, Wallace, Murray, Burns, Duncan, Gillespie, Bruce, Logan and Kennedy. These names are common in Scotland, but not so much in England.

Top 100 Surnames in Scotland According to a Survey by the Registrar General for Scotland in 1990:

1. Smith
2. Brown
3. Wilson
4. Stewart
5. Thompson
6. Campbell
7. Robertson
8. Anderson
9. Scott
10. MacDonald
11. Murray
12. Reid
13. Taylor
14. Clark
15. Young
16. Ross
17. Watson
18. Morrison
19. Mitchell
20. Walker
21. Paterson
22. Fraser
23. Kerr
24. Miller
25. Duncan
26. Hamilton
27. Cameron
28. Gray
29. Johnston
30. Graham
31. Davidson
32. McDonald
33. Henderson
34. Martin
35. Grant
36. Bell
37. Hunter
38. Ferguson
39. Kelly
40. Simpson
41. Allan
42. Black
43. McLean
44. MacLeod
45. MacKenzie
46. Wallace
47. Mackay
48. Marshall
49. Gibson
50. Russell
51. Kennedy
52. Wright
53. Stevenson
54. Gordon
55. Wood
56. Sutherland
57. White
58. Milne
59. Burns
60. Muir
61. Watt
62. McKay
63. McMillan
64. Millar
65. McIntosh
66. Craig
67. Cunningham
68. Munro
69. Hughes
70. Johnstone
71. McKenzie
72. Sinclair
73. Williamson
74. Ritchie
75. Murphy
76. Bruce
77. Jones
78. McGregor
79. Boyle
80. Crawford
81. Fleming
82. Dickson
83. Douglas
84. Shaw
85. McLaughlin
86. Alexander
87. Doherty
88. Jamieson
89. Lindsay
90. King
91. Donaldson
92. Christie
93. Hill
94. McIntyre
95. Findlay
96. Ramsay
97. Aitken
98. McFarlane
99. McLeod
100. Mackie
101. MacLean

Note that different spellings have not been added together.

This list is from Scotland. The same lists from North America are skewed more towards the Highland names because the Highlanders were more apt to immigrate in large numbers due to historical factors. The Highland Clearances (circa 1800) drove large numbers of Scottish crofters (farmers) to immigrate. Eldon Township was heavily influenced by the ‘clearances.’ Most of the Hudson Bay Company employees were also Highlanders. Scottish heritage today is often hard to pick out because many lists refer to them at British. (The Welsh would heartily agree!)

And what do these surnames mean?

Smith – occupational, as in blacksmith or goldsmith (English)

Brown – descriptive, from the colour (English)

Wilson – patronymic, ‘son of William’ (English/Norman/Germanic)

Anderson – patronymic, ‘son of Andrew’ (English/Greek)

Thompson – patronymic, ‘son of Thomas’ (English/Hebrew). The normal spelling in Scotland is Thomson.

Clark – occupational, as clerk (Latin)

Walker – occupational, from ‘wealcere’ meaning a fuller (Old English)

Young – descriptive (English)

Scott – a Scotsman (English)

Mitchell – patronymic, ‘son of Michael’ (English/Hebrew)

Campbell – descriptive, from ‘cam beul’ meaning ‘crooked mouth’ (Gaelic)

Stewart – occupational, from ‘stig-weard’ meaning ‘sty-warden’ (Old English)

Bell – descriptive, from ‘bel’ meaning beautiful (French); or territorial, meaning ‘one who lives near a bell (English); or matronymic, meaning ‘son of Isabella’ (English)

Bailey – occupational, meaning ‘bailiff’ (French)

Cooper – occupational

Watson – patronymic

Ross – Territorial, from Ross in northern Scotland; or descriptive, meaning red-haired (Old English)

Henderson – patronymic, ‘son of Henry’ (English/Norman/Germanic)

Patterson – patronymic ‘son of Patrick’

Alexander – patronymic (Greek)

Hamilton – territorial, from Hambleton or Hambledon in England

Graham – territorial, from ‘graeg-ham’ meaning ‘grey home’ (Old English/Norman)

Wallace – descriptive, meaning ‘Welsh’ or ‘foreign’ (Celtic)

McDonald – patronymic, ‘son of Donald’ (Gaelic)

Marshall – occupational, meaning ‘horse servant’ (French)

Murray – territorial, from the province of Moray

Crawford – territorial, from the barony in Lanarkshire

Boyd – possibly territorial, from the Isle of Bute (Gaelic)

Kennedy – origin obscure (Irish)

Burns – territorial, from ‘bourne’ meaning ‘stream’ (England).