"Mac" - Scots Gaelic or "Mc" - usually Irish means "son of". In Scots Gaelic "Nic" means "daughter of", but is usually only heard in spoken Gaelic e.g. a man would use the surname MacAulay = literally "son of Aulay", but a woman would describe herself as Nic Aulay = "daughter of Aulay", even when used as a surname. Laird is old Scots not Gaelic, so the usage "Mac" is unusual. Yours aye Iain http://ourworld.cs.com/INSLaird/