From: <merle@mail.fea.net> on another website. I didn't write it so can't vouch for it. Just thought I'd throw it out there for us to chew on: In a world like our ancsetors lived in, in which surnames were viewed in the Gaelic side of things much as social security numbers (a way for the gov. to keep track of you to tax you), they changed frequently. There was no tradition of having one surname all your life. How English! If you wonder where I learn all this strange stuff, check out the introductory lectures to these surname books. They are all the genealogy libraries. The one in Black "Surnames of Scotland" is very interesting and even funny. It corrects a lot of misconceptions we tend to have about surnames. Anyhow, there are lots of exceptions. Genealogy is the study of one specific family. You don't particularly care about the others.The opposite of surnames. The clan-thing in Scotland is very much a modern development largely for the purpose of making money. So nowadays there are surname books and if you have that surname you can buy a nice necktie in that tartan or if you are really loaded in dough, you can buy a whole outfit. Actually most Scotsmen never had a clan. That's kind of like expecting all Americans to have a tribe. Nope, Indian-Americans have tribes, and in Scotland Highlanders had clans. But the clans were not exactly based on kinship. Most highlanders used a patrynomic - ie their father's name, and if some English person showed up from Edinburgh demanding a surname, they might give the name of the Laird. If they moved to another hill and had a new laird, they gave the new lairdie's name. If they got into trouble and wanted to lay low, they changed the surname they used. This practice drove the English to distraction as they liked people to have one name. They eventually got their way, didn't they? In Black "Surnames of Scotland" a story is recounted of Sir Walter Scott going on a highland hunting expedition and encountering a man he'd met before, only this time he was introduced with a different surname. Sir Walter made enquiries and the man explained he'd moved to the other side of the hill. It seemed as odd to Sir Walter (a lowlander from a border 'clan') as it would to us. When the Campbells were given their land in Argyll, suddenly the parish records were full of little Campbells being baptised. What happened to the McDonalds? Were they all killed off? Nope, those had been little McDonalds the week before. The same essay in Black talks about how people seem to think there was some village that produced crops of people of a certain surname. But actually, surnames often originated in various spots. So I sure wouldn't bet one cent that all of the same surname actually came from the same place in Scotland, though I am sure the clan there would assure you otherwise if they thought you wanted to hear that. To do genealogy we need to be very suspicious, like Columbo, and check all our clues.