This is from the Clan Macfarlane website (www.macfarlane.org) and is a good example og how many different variations of a surname evolve. Le gach deagh dhurachd, Michael MacFarlane, Executive Vice President Clan MacFarlane Society, Inc. http://www.macfarlane.org michael@macfarlane.org Be sure to visit the website for the upcoming book: "Chicken soup for the Celtic Soul" http://www.celticsoul.com McFarland and Its Place in Macfarlane History By Kent Macfarlane, Vancouver BC Director of Heritage (Heritage@macfarlane.org) Clan MacFarlane Society, Inc. As Director of Heritage for the Society, and an avid researcher, I receive information from many people. Occasionally, several pieces of information fall into place to create a coherent section of the overall "puzzle" that is our Clan's history. I am very pleased to present one of those sections now. As has been written many times before. The proper, i.e. Gaelic, spelling of our name is Mac Phàrlaine. The correct translation of the name into English is Macfarlane. All the other variants are scribal "errors" caused by people writing down what they heard. One of the maligned versions (maligned for being "Irish" - as though that makes it suspect or "wrong") is MacFarland. Recently I was sent a package of papers from Georgia, U. S. A. Originally, they had been the property of one Horace MacFarland of Boston, Mass. Somehow, they went southeast to North Carolina and the down to Georgia. (If any descendants of Horace read this, please get in touch with me) Mr MacFarland was very keen on his heritage. In the early part of this century, he was in correspondence with, and later a member of An Comunn Chloinn Phàrlane - the original Clan Macfarlane Society, founded in 1911. One of his correspondents was the Reverend William Barr Macfarlane of Uddingston, Scotland - about whom I hope to write a great deal later. For this article, I shall limit myself to paraphrasing as short article which he wrote concerning the spelling of our name, particularly concentrating on the MacFarland variant. (If any of his descendants read this, please get in touch with me, too) According to his research of documents found in the Procurator's Library in Glasgow, the name "Makfarland" occurs for the first time in 1543 in a Charter of Confirmation* from Matthew, Duke of Lennox to "Duncanus Makfarland de Arrochquhar" - the 13th Chief of the name. The Rev. Mr. Macfarlane goes on to say that the last instance in this time-frame was in 1596, in a document* concerning "Umfrido Makfarland", who was the younger son of Andrew, the 14th Chief. He also mentions that there were other variations in use in other documents. The Rev. Mr. Macfarlane points out then that the Plantation of Ulster began in 1608. It is well known that many Macfarlanes left Scotland at this time to take advantage of the lands available in Ulster. He says: "Therefore it seems that the Irish "M'Farlands" have the credit of handing down to us the spelling that was IN VOGUE AT THE TIME OF THE PLANTATIONS." (emphasis added - K.M.) The Rev. Mr. Macfarlane shows also that another variant, Macfarlan, was common on both sides of the Irish Sea at this time. He concludes by saying, among other things, that the "-an" form continued in Scotland but disappeared in Ireland, while the "-and" form continued in Ireland, but disappeared in Scotland. I found this explanation a very interesting one. It points out very clearly that we need a thorough documentation of the papers in the Hill Collection. Who knows what other nuggets of information lie buried within these two volumes, which contain more than 100 documents. * Document 78, as numbered by Dr. H. Hill ** Document 85, as numbered by Dr. H. Hill (Sometime in the not-too-distant future, I'll have to explain who Dr. Hill was, too)