http://www.scotsman.com/news/is-your-surname-among-the-20-most-common-in-scotland-1-4100176 Out of the 20 names listed, I can claim four on my tree to make me truly Scottish (?): (2) Brown, (5) Thomson, (8 ) Anderson, (15) Young Anderson is not really a clan name, so one might say that all four names are generic with no particular claim to Scotland. The only hielan’ blood that I can claim are two by the name of McLean and McDougall, but the female progeny did not carry the names down through the generations. My ‘lot’ seem to be rooted mainly in the Southwest area and Central Belt/Lanarkshire areas of Scotland. Throw in a spot of Irish and English and I can claim to be one of Jock Tamson’s bairns. Maisie

The top name is Smith! LOLOLOL! That makes me TRULY Scottish. Seriously, my brother's Y DNA traces to the narrow end of the Forth of Firth. But the name was God knows what when it left Scotland, and it could have been Gowan, which means Smith. It was often changed in Ireland. Dora Smith -----Original Message----- From: Maisie Egger via Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2016 12:46 PM To: LANARK@rootsweb.com Subject: [Lanark] Twenty most common names in Scotland http://www.scotsman.com/news/is-your-surname-among-the-20-most-common-in-scotland-1-4100176 Out of the 20 names listed, I can claim four on my tree to make me truly Scottish (?): (2) Brown, (5) Thomson, (8 ) Anderson, (15) Young Anderson is not really a clan name, so one might say that all four names are generic with no particular claim to Scotland. The only hielan’ blood that I can claim are two by the name of McLean and McDougall, but the female progeny did not carry the names down through the generations. My ‘lot’ seem to be rooted mainly in the Southwest area and Central Belt/Lanarkshire areas of Scotland. Throw in a spot of Irish and English and I can claim to be one of Jock Tamson’s bairns. Maisie ------------------------------- WHEN REPLYING to a post please remember to snip most of the earlier message. Be sure the reply to address shows as LANARK@Rootsweb.com. You may contact the List Admin at lanark-admin@rootsweb.com or click on the following link to the list information page online: http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SCT/LANARK.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LANARK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

To add to the name mix: Definition of gowan chiefly Scottish : daisy 1; broadly : a white or yellow field flower gowany play \-ə-nē\ adjective, chiefly Scottish ---------------------------------------------- Robert Burns referred to the daisies as gowans. The field daisy is very small (think of the ones used to make daisy chains, but the gowan is a much larger daisy, depending on where it grows. -----------------------------------------------. Auld Lang Syne We twa hae run about the braes, and pu’d the gowans fine ; But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit, sin auld lang syne. ...and more: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jmack/mcgowan/name.htm Maisie ------------------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: Dora Smith Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2016 5:50 PM To: Maisie Egger ; lanark@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [Lanark] Twenty most common names in Scotland The top name is Smith! LOLOLOL! That makes me TRULY Scottish. Seriously, my brother's Y DNA traces to the narrow end of the Forth of Firth. But the name was God knows what when it left Scotland, and it could have been Gowan, which means Smith. It was often changed in Ireland. Dora Smith -----Original Message----- From: Maisie Egger via Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2016 12:46 PM To: LANARK@rootsweb.com Subject: [Lanark] Twenty most common names in Scotland http://www.scotsman.com/news/is-your-surname-among-the-20-most-common-in-scotland-1-4100176 Out of the 20 names listed, I can claim four on my tree to make me truly Scottish (?): (2) Brown, (5) Thomson, (8 ) Anderson, (15) Young Anderson is not really a clan name, so one might say that all four names are generic with no particular claim to Scotland. The only hielan’ blood that I can claim are two by the name of McLean and McDougall, but the female progeny did not carry the names down through the generations. My ‘lot’ seem to be rooted mainly in the Southwest area and Central Belt/Lanarkshire areas of Scotland. Throw in a spot of Irish and English and I can claim to be one of Jock Tamson’s bairns. Maisie

It's more likely to be Gow than Gowan. 'Gobha' is the Gaelic for 'smith'. The 'bh' combination is barely pronounced in Gaelic, and it is anglicised as Gow. A gowan is a sort of daisy. Anne From: Dora Smith via <lanark@rootsweb.com> To: Maisie Egger <campsiehills@sbcglobal.net>; lanark@rootsweb.com Sent: Friday, 15 April 2016, 1:50 Subject: Re: [Lanark] Twenty most common names in Scotland The top name is Smith!  LOLOLOL!  That makes me TRULY Scottish. Seriously, my brother's Y DNA traces to the narrow end of the Forth of Firth.  But the name was God knows what when it left Scotland, and it could have been Gowan, which means Smith.  It was often changed in Ireland. Dora Smith -----Original Message----- From: Maisie Egger via Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2016 12:46 PM To: LANARK@rootsweb.com Subject: [Lanark] Twenty most common names in Scotland http://www.scotsman.com/news/is-your-surname-among-the-20-most-common-in-scotland-1-4100176 Out of the 20 names listed, I can claim four on my tree to make me truly Scottish (?): (2) Brown, (5) Thomson, (8 ) Anderson, (15) Young Anderson is not really a clan name, so one might say that all four names are generic with no particular claim to Scotland.  The only hielan’ blood that I can claim are two by the name of McLean and McDougall, but the female progeny did not carry the names down through the generations.  My ‘lot’ seem to be rooted mainly in the Southwest area and Central Belt/Lanarkshire areas of Scotland.  Throw in a spot of Irish and English and I can claim to be one of Jock Tamson’s bairns. Maisie ------------------------------- WHEN REPLYING to a post please remember to snip most of the earlier message. Be sure the reply to address shows as LANARK@Rootsweb.com. You may contact the List Admin at lanark-admin@rootsweb.com or click on the following link to the list information page online: http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SCT/LANARK.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LANARK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message   ------------------------------- WHEN REPLYING to a post please remember to snip most of the earlier message. Be sure the reply to address shows as LANARK@Rootsweb.com. You may contact the List Admin at lanark-admin@rootsweb.com or click on the following link to the list information page online:  http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SCT/LANARK.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LANARK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Coincidentally, I had just been trying to identify some ancestors using the traditional Scottish parental naming system when this email arrived. I found a very good article explaining the difference between the traditional parental Scottish and the ancestral Scottish naming patterns (http://www.johnbrobb.com/Content/TheScottishOnomasticPattern.pdf). However, based on the article, you might be interested to know that in the 18th and 19th centuries over 72% of sons were called John, James, William, Alexander or Robert and nearly 69% of daughters were called Margaret, Mary, Jennet, Elizabeth, Jean or Ann - so, no wonder there is such confusion! ... especially if combined with Smith or Brown! Jose Sent from my iPad > On 14 Apr 2016, at 19:46, Maisie Egger via <lanark@rootsweb.com> wrote: > > http://www.scotsman.com/news/is-your-surname-among-the-20-most-common-in-scotland-1-4100176 > > Out of the 20 names listed, I can claim four on my tree to make me truly Scottish (?): > > (2) Brown, (5) Thomson, (8 ) Anderson, (15) Young > > Anderson is not really a clan name, so one might say that all four names are generic with no particular claim to Scotland. The only hielan’ blood that I can claim are two by the name of McLean and McDougall, but the female progeny did not carry the names down through the generations. My ‘lot’ seem to be rooted mainly in the Southwest area and Central Belt/Lanarkshire areas of Scotland. Throw in a spot of Irish and English and I can claim to be one of Jock Tamson’s bairns. > > Maisie > > ------------------------------- > > WHEN REPLYING to a post please remember to snip most of the earlier message. Be sure the reply to address shows as LANARK@Rootsweb.com. > > You may contact the List Admin at lanark-admin@rootsweb.com or click on the following link to the list information page online: > http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SCT/LANARK.html > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LANARK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

That 'Scotsman' article is a bit thin! The original article is at http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/names/most-common-surnames-in-birth-marriage-and-death-registers The GROS published a booklet several years ago that looked at the numbers of various surnames. I don't have it to hand, but the thing that sticks in my mind is that if you combined names beginning with 'Mac' and the names beginning with 'Mc' the picture was rather different. M*donald came second to Smith, and M*Leod and some others were well up the list as well. This also seems to be the case with these figures. Anne