Am I going nuts ?

[Forfarian]

Are you looking at the census transcriptions on Ancestry?

If so, could the problem be because Ancestry is being too clever about surnames?

The surname MacFarlane is from Gaelic Mac Pharlain, meaning 'son of Parlan'. Parlan is a variant of the rather better known name Bartholomew.

So I wonder whether most of the 144,405 names might be MacFarlanes (or McFarlanes) with a few Bartholomews for good measure.

I suggest looking for your Parlans on www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk - you will have to check the original image sooner or later because you can't rely on transcriptions, especially on Ancestry, so you may as well do it now.