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Author Topic: Change of surnames - MacGregor  (Read 1286 times)

Offline davisd

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Change of surnames - MacGregor
« on: Sunday 15 January 23 19:43 GMT (UK) »
It is my understanding that some Scottish names changed due to political causes. This is I believe the case with the MacGregor family from which descend among others. were other surnames affected?

Can anyone explain to me the reasons for his and did folks go back and forth from surname to surname? It's all very confusing.

Offline Forfarian

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Re: Change of surnames - MacGregor
« Reply #1 on: Sunday 15 January 23 20:49 GMT (UK) »
Quote from: davisd on Sunday 15 January 23 19:43 GMT (UK)
It is my understanding that some Scottish names changed due to political causes. This is I believe the case with the MacGregor family from which descend among others. were other surnames affected?

Can anyone explain to me the reasons for his and did folks go back and forth from surname to surname? It's all very confusing.
As far as MacGregor is concerned, this is a special case; the government passed a law banning anyone from using the surname MacGregor. There is plenty of information online about this - have a look at
https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/when-name-macgregor-was-banned-150-years-605743
http://www.glendiscovery.com/glenfruin.htm
and search online for "Macgregor proscription" for even more articles about this.

Much later, after the 1745 Jacobite Rising, many people changed their surnames to avoid being arrested for their part in that event. Some of these eventually readopted their own names, but others did not.

It was also common in some areas for a family to use more than one surname or 'alias'.

There's an article at http://www.clan-macpherson.org/museum/documents/alang12.pdf that discusses surname changes.

Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline davisd

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Re: Change of surnames - MacGregor
« Reply #2 on: Sunday 15 January 23 21:23 GMT (UK) »
That's most helpful - Many Thanks!!

Online JACK GEE

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Re: Change of surnames - MacGregor
« Reply #3 on: Monday 16 January 23 06:52 GMT (UK) »
The name MacGregor was banned in Scotland. A good number of Macgregors moved to Ireland and took the name GREGG.

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Jack Gee.
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Offline John Andrew Hutchison

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Re: Change of surnames - MacGregor
« Reply #4 on: Tuesday 24 January 23 15:29 GMT (UK) »
Hi,

I have McGregor ancestors, and their surnames were all over the place, as explained above. However, in that Highland area it was also common to use sept names, and spell them in several different ways. This appeareed to be true for most families, but the one I know in detail is my own, which was Campbell. That was rearly used, instead they also used; McAinsh, McTavish, McKaush, McAwish, Aunsh, McAnsh, McAuish. I suspect they always said it the same way, but the different spellings are how the minister interpreted what he had heard.

John.

Offline davisd

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Re: Change of surnames - MacGregor
« Reply #5 on: Tuesday 24 January 23 19:31 GMT (UK) »
That's amazing and continues to baffle! Thank you.
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