WHAT'S IN A NAME?

The name MacLean appears with unfailing regularity in all issues of the Coll Magazine. Historically. Coll was very much MacLean territory and hundreds by that name used to inhabit the island.

A quick look at the Coll Telephone Book (more issues, please) shows Kennedy and MacKinnon to be the dominant clans nowadays. Other longstanding traditional names are MacDonald, MacFadyen and Maclnnes. All these names, except Kennedy, are ancient Highland patronymics marking descent by the prefix Mac, expressing son. It was only in the last century that most Highland patronymics were fixed into unchanging surnames. Kennedy is a Lowland form of a patronymic being another version of Kennethson, or MacKenzie. But times change and some weird and wonderful names now inhabit the island. Here are a few to ponder over. The Macs, tho' of ancient lineage, would be hard put to compete with such fascinating nomenclature.

DE MORNAY: In about the year 1000, the French imitated the Norman Lords who had been the first to introduce fixed surnames. This particular style of surname shows its territorial origin as opposed to family or clan. When the first Des reached Scotland, circa 1100, many a Scots lady's head was turned towards France tempted by such an aristocratic prefix. Dr De Mornay's own (married) name is descended from the French Huguenots, Protestant emigrees from France to England in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Who knows whether or not some bonny female forebear of the Coll MacFadyens, say, did not make the crossing in the opposite direction many a century before, tempted by that De?

The Doctor thinks something to do with cheese is a stronger historical connection, however....

(More and more women are rebelling against the eclipsing of their own surname (their father's name, mind you) by retaining it on marriage. The patter of tiny mulitiple hyphenations the logical but impractical outcome by the third generation. No win situation, sisters, I'm afraid.

For myself, now no longer married, I have resurrected my maiden name but for work reasons have to retain my married name. A clumsy and maybe pretentious compromise is the result. But I like seeing the name Crawford again. Shades of a second childhood looming, maybe? Incidentally, Hedderwick is a Scottish place name from near Dunbar, ELothian. OS. Map. Sheet 67. Ed.)

LUNGHI: A relatively unusual Italian Swiss name literally translated as the plural of 'long'. So what does (or do) longs' mean? Perhaps, long people (tall or long-lived?); or possibly long-johns' - after all, people of eminence get named after Wellingtons and Cardigans so why not 'Long-johns'? In support of this notion, the Indian translation of lunghi' seems to be loin cloth' - ah well! The family actually have a coat of arms of sorts and mean to study it more carefully for sinister signs of rampant undies or crossed Y-fronts.

STURGEON: Robert assures us that the meaning of his name is 'Keeper of the Royal Fish'; an example of an occupational name. It certainly seems appropriate for one of the founder members of the Fishing Competition (1974). Ruth lives up well to her adopted name; its meaning adapted to 'Chef of the Royal Fish par Exellence'? BIEL is Polish for 'white' and LIGHTFOOT means 'good dancer'. Now what about PORELLI?