Ardis wrote here...... > A researcher found that one of our ancestor families changed their name--from > MCHARDY to MCLEOD. Has anyone had this experience? We didn't know this until > a few years ago, and have always wondered why??? Originally, the strongest Clans [McKenzie, McLeod, McDonald, Cameron, Campbell, Mackintosh etc] had military "muscle" and political push, and this aroused strong passion for loyalty. The Chief was supported by his Clan, and the Clan would be sustained by the power and wealth of the Chief in various ways. These were the days before income tax and social security! There was advantage in switching your own surname, to that of the Chief. Some Chiefs would reward a name changer, with a major gift e.g. a BOLL OF MEAL. That's quite a sack of food, sometimes enough to make a Murphy become a Mackenzie!! We should therefore take care when researching our own ancestry, to avoid assuming that the surname of our male ancestors was uniform in spelling or sound. Cheers........ -- ALISTAIR M. CAMERON, Assistant at Mittagong N.S.W. F.H. Centre CAMERON RESEARCH, Registered with N.S.W. Dept of Fair Trading. P.O. Box 215 BUNDANOON N.S.W. 2578 AUSTRALIA