> In conclusion; would it be true to say that almost the entire > population > of Airdrie and Coatbridge > have Macdonald as a surname? Any comments from the locally > well-connected? Absolutely not, though I can well understand your frustration. I did a quick check of the 1881 census CD-ROM. There were 331 M(a)cdonalds among the 37,502 people in Old Monkland, and 170 among the 27,928 people in New Monkland. Total 501 of 65,430 - fewer than 1%. M(a)cdonald must be one of the most challenging names to research in Scotland. According to 'Personal Names in Scotland', published by the Registrar General for Scotland in 1991, MacDonald was the 10th commonest, and McDonald the 32nd most common, surname in Scotland in 1990. Added together, they are 3rd commonest after Smith and Brown. Then of course there are the variants, and the fact that the name originates in areas where the records tended to be less well kept. Anne