Surname of" NAMES"

[pab]

I am trying to find somebody who has information on the "NAMES" surname which may have been Scottish in origin and in the northern counties in the 1850's.I have traced one family in Roscommon but cannot  find any other family of the name either side of 1850. There were McNames families in the Brideswell area but I have drawn a blank there as well. Can anybody shine a bit of light on this dilemma ?? There is one "NAMES" listed for Cloonfinlough parish in the National Archives but I have failed to find him. I'm losing sleep at this stage.
Thanking you in advance.
Peter.

[Jackpinesavage]

Dear Peter,
  My maiden name was McNames.  My second cousin once removed wrote an excellent book called "McNames Names McNamish", which covers all she could learn about the family in America.

[Jackpinesavage]

I keep losing what I've written and having to start over, so I'll send this in pieces.  My gr-gr grandfather was born Abram Names in 1752 in New York state, but after 1800 he was called McNames.

[Jackpinesavage]

He served in the Revolutionary War on our side, though he did move to Canada for a time after the war.  We suspect that he added the "Mc" because he was living among many Scotsmen.

[Jackpinesavage]

Abram's father was Isaac Names, who was born in 1711, but we don't know where.  He was an indentured servant, so was probably born overseas.  He was baptized in the NY Lutheran Church in 1731, age 20, and his father was said to be John, but we have never found any more about John than that.

[Jackpinesavage]

When I was a child, I was told the McNameses were Scottish.  Once cousin Maxine began serious research, it became obvious that if they were, there was hardly a drop of Scottish blood left in us, because generation after generation of McNames men married Dutch women.  They lived among the upstate NY Dutch and Palatine Germans and French Huguenots.

[Jackpinesavage]

When I was a child, I was told the McNameses were Scottish.  Once cousin Maxine began serious research, it became obvious that if they were, there was hardly a drop of Scottish blood left in us, because generation after generation of McNames men married Dutch women.  They lived among the upstate NY Dutch and Palatine Germans and French Huguenots.

[Jackpinesavage]

Some time ago, while playing on the computer, I found some McNameses in Co. Roscommon in the 1840's.  I was amazed, especially when I looked at a map and found that was not northern Ireland.  To be honest, my father's family was very anti-Irish and anti-Catholic.

[Jackpinesavage]

(Sorry!)  I never investigated further at the time, but I am very intrigued, and am most anxious to hear more.  Personally, I wouldn't mind being Irish at all.
             Mary Lee McNames Allen
              Rangely, Colorado, USA