Origin
ARMSTRONG : A name given for strength in battle. Historians relate the following tradition: This family was anciently settled on the Scottish border; their original name was Fairbairn, which was changed to Armstrong on the following occasion: An ancient king of Scotland having had his horse killed under him in battle, was immediately re-mounted by Fairbairn, his armor-bearer, on his own horse. For this timely assistance he amply rewarded him with lands on the borders, and to perpetuate the memory of so important a service, as well as the manner in which it was performed (for Fairbairn took the king by the thigh, and set him on the saddle), his royal master gave him the appellation of Armstrong. The chief seat of Johnnie Armstrong was Gilnockie, in Eskdale, a place of exquisite beauty. Johnnie was executed by order of James V., in 1529, as a Border Freebooter. Andrew Armstrong sold his patrimony to one of his kinsmen, and emigrated to the north of Ireland in the commencement of the seventeenth century. The Armstrongs were always noted for their courage and daring. In the Lay of the Last Minstrel, when the chief was about to assemble his clans, he says to his heralds: Ye need not go to Liddisdale, For whon they see the blazing bale, Elliots and Armstrongs never fail
ASOALL : In the Gaelic, means a sheltered place, a bosom, a covert. Aisgiodal or Aisgall was one of the Danish commanders at the battle of Clontarf near Dublin. The name is expressive of courage and strength. From this may be found the name of Hascall. If the name is of British origin, it would signify the sedgy moor, from Hesg, and hal or hayle low grounds, meadows.
ASGALL : In the Gaelic, means a sheltered place, a bosom, a covert. Aisgiodal or Aisgall was one of the Danish commanders at the battle of Clontarf near Dublin. The name is expressive of courage and strength. From this may be found the name of Hascall. If the name is of British origin, it would signify the sedgy moor, from Hesg, and hal or hayle low grounds, meadows.
AYRES : Local. Derived from a river, town, and district of the same name in Scotland. Air, Gaelic. Derivation uncertain. It may come from Iar, west the course in which the river runs; or Air, slaughter, the place of battle. The Celtic Aer, and the Welsh Awyr, signify, radically, to open, expand or flow clearly; to shoot or radiate. In Thorpe's catalogue of the deeds of Battle Abbey, we find the following legendary account of this name: Ayres, formerly Eyre. The first of this family was named Truelove, one of the followers of William the Conqueror. At the battle of Hastings, Duke William was flung from his horse, and his helmet beaten into his face, which Truelove observing, pulled off, and horsed him again. The duke told him 'Thou shalt hereafter from Truelove be called Eyre (or Air), because thou hast given me the air I breathe.' After the battle, the Duke, on inquiry respecting him, found him severely wounded (his leg and thigh having been struck off); he ordered him the utmost care, and on his recovery, gave him lands in Derby, in reward for his services, and the leg and thigh in armor, cut off, for his crest; an honorary badge yet worn by all the Eyres in England.
BACHELOR : From the Dutch Bock, a book, and leeraar, a doctor of divinity, law, or physic. When applied to persons of a certain military rank, it may be a corruption of Bas chevalier, because lower in dignity than the milites bannereti. Killian adopts the opinion that as the soldier who has once been engaged in battle, is called battalarius, so he who has once been engaged in literary warfare, in public dispute upon any subject. Calepinus thinks that those who took the degree of Bachelor, were so called (Baccalaurei), because a chaplet of laurel berries was placed upon them. The word, however, has probably but one origin, which would account for its various applications.
BARRINGER : Local. A corruption of Beranger (Lat Berengarus); from Beringer, a town in France, where a battle was fought between the French and the English.
BEDFORD : Local. A town and shire in England; from the Saxon bedan, battle, war, slaughter, and ford, a way or shallow place for crossing a river. Byddin-ffordd, Welsh, the route or way of the army.
BLAIR : (Celtic.) Local. From Blair or Blar, which originally signified a cleared plain,' but from the Celts generally choosing such plains for their fields of battle, blair came to signify a battle. There is a small village called the Blair near Lochord, about two miles from Lochleven, in Fifeshire, Scotland. It signifies a spot where a battle was fought, locus pugnae. Here, it is supposed, an engagement took place between the Romans and the Caledonians, a.d. 83.
BRUCE : (Nor. Fr.) Local. Be Bruys; from Bruy or Bruys, a place in Normandy where the family originated. De Bruys was one of the followers of William the Conqueror, and fought at the battle of Hastings. From this ancestor, King Robert Bruce was descended.
CADOGAN : (Welsh) Terrible in battle; from cad, battle, and gug, fierce.
CADWALLADER : (Welsh.) Derived from cad, battle, and gwaladr, a leader, a lord the leader or lord of the battle. Gwaladr would seem to come from gwal, a wall or defense, and adre, signifying at home or abroad, everywhere.
CARACTACUS : (Gaelic.) From Caer, a castle or city; eacht, an exploit, and cios, a tribute, expressive of his abilities in conducting an offensive, as well as a defensive war; or, as O'Connor derives it, from Cathreacteac, the leader of the host in battle.
CRAVEN : One who begs for his life when conquered; from crave, a word used formerly by one vanquished in trial by battle, and yielding to the conqueror. Craven is also the name of a place in Yorkshire, England, very stony, derived from craig, Cor. Br., a rock, and petty a head.
DALRYMPLE : Local. Taken from the lands and barony of Dalrymple, in Ayrshire, Scotland. The name is said to be a corruption of ihe Gaelic Dale-roi-milleadh, which signifies the valley of the slaughter of kings, and the place was so called from a battle fought there before the Christian era, in which two kings, Fergus and Coilus, were slain. According to others, it signifies the valley of the crooked pool. I think the name signifies the valley on the margin of the pool, from the Welsh Dol, a valley; rhim, the edge or border, and pwll, a pool It is very nearly the same in Gaelic; Dail, a vale, troimh, by, along the whole extent, and poll, a small lake.
ERSKINE : Some writers deduce this family from a noble Florentine wlio came to Scotland in the reign of Kenneth II. It is said, in the reign of Malcolm II, a Scotchman of high distinction having killed with his own hand Enrique, one of the Danish generals, at the battle of Murthill, cut off his head, and with .the, bloody dagger in his hand showed it to the king, and in the Gaelic language said Eriskyne, upon the knife,' alluding to the head and dagger; and in the same language also said, Intend to perform greater actions than what I have done. Whereupon, King Malcolm imposed upon him the surname of Eriskine, and assigned him for his armor-bearings a hand holding a dagger, with Je pense plus for a motto, which has continued to be the crest and motto of this family.
FERGUS : (Gaelic and Celtic.) A fierce or brave chieftain, from Fear, man, and guth, a voice or word, that is, the man of the word, a commander of an army. Some suppose the first Fergus was so named from Fairghe, the sea, on account of his large navy; others, from his raging like the sea in battle. Feargach, fiery.
FORTESCUE : Strong shield. Sir Richard Le Forte (the brave), one of the leaders in the army of William the Conqueror, who had the good fortune to protect his chief at the battle of Hastings, by bearing before him a massive shield, hence acquired the addition of the French word escue, a shield, to his name.
GALGACHUS : In the chronicle of the kings of Scotland Galgachus is called Galdus, of which name and its etymology Gardon gives the following account: Galgachus was Latinized by the Romans, from the Highland appellations Gold and cachach; the first, Gold, being the proper name, and the second, cachach, being an adjection to it from the battles he had fought; it signifies the same as prceUosus; Gold the fighter of battles, which kind of nicknames are still in use among the Highlanders. Colgach, Gaelic, fierce, furious, and ach, battle, skirmish.
GALL : A native of the Lowlands of Scotland; any one ignorant of the Gaelic language; a foreigner, stranger. Gal, Gaelic and Cor. Br., battle, evil warfare; Gal, Welsh, clear.
GORING : Local. A battle field, a bloody place, from gore, bloody, and ing. A place in Sussex, England; an angle, a corner.
KEITH : Local. From the parish and lands of Keith, in Banffshire, Scotland. The name Keith is said to be derived from the Gaelic Gaoth, wind, pronounced somewhat similarly to Keith. The old village and kirk are called Arkeith, which may be a corruption of the Gaelic Ard Quoth, signifying high wind, which corresponds to its locality, which is peculiarly exposed to gusts of wind. In some old charters, Keith is written Gith, which still more resembles Gaith. I think the name is derived from the Welsh Caeth, a place surrounded, shut up, inclosed, a deep hollow, a strait. The root of the word is the Welsh Cau, to close, to shut up. Concerning this family, the traditional account is, that they came from G-ermany in the reign of the Emperor Otho, and from the principality of Hesse, from which they were expelled in some revolution. The first person of this family of whom our oldest historians take notice, is Robert De Keith, to whom Malcom II, King of Scotland, gave the barony of Keith, in East Lothian, as a reward for killing Camus, a Danish general, who then invaded Scotland with a numerous army. The battle was fought at Barry, seven miles from Dundee, where an obelisk, called Camus' stone, still preserves the memory of the victory, and it is said the king, dipping his three fingers in the blood of the general, stroked them along the field of the Scotch champion's shield, to whom, besides the landed estate before mentioned, he gave the dignity of Great Marshal of Scotland.
KIMBERLEY : Kernperlike, kemper, a veteran, a stouti, warlike man, from the Dutch kamper, a champion, a fighting-man. The name may apply to the qualities of the person, or to the place of a camp or battle, that is, Camper-ley; Cumberley indicates a place among hillft in a narrow valley, from Cum, a vale, a dell.
KINCADE : (Gaelic.) From ceann, head, and cath or cad, battle the head or front of the battle.
KINSLEY : (Gaelic.) From Ceannsallach, authoritative, commanding, ruling. Walker, in his Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards, relates the following story: Eochaidh, the then monarch, was defeated by Ena, King of Leinster, at the battle of Cruachan. In this engagement Ena killed Cetmathch, laureate bard to the monarch, although he fled for refuge under the shields of the Leinster troops. For this base deed the ruthless king was stigmatized with the epithet Kinsealach, that is, the foul and reproachful head, which name descended to his posterity.
MAINARD : (German) Of a powerful deposition, stout-hearted. Maynhard was one of the barons who went into England with William the Conqueror, and whose name is in the roll of Battle Abbey.
MAYNARD : (German) Of a powerful deposition, stout-hearted. Maynhard was one of the barons who went into England with William the Conqueror, and whose name is in the roll of Battle Abbey.
MALLET : This name has been ascribed by some to a place so termed in Normandy; and by others to the courageous blows of the family in battle. Malleus, Maule, Mall, and Mallet was one of the offensive weapons of a well-armed warrior, being generally made of iron, and used to destroy by pounding or bruising the enemy through or under the armor, that could not be penetrated by edged or pointed weapons, Edward I was called Malleus Scotorum. All the families of this name in England trace their descent from the renowned William Lord Mallet de Graville, one of the great barons who accompanied William the Conqueror.
MA LET : This name has been ascribed by some to a place so termed in Normandy; and by others to the courageous blows of the family in battle. Malleus, Maule, Mall, and Mallet was one of the offensive weapons of a well-armed warrior, being generally made of iron, and used to destroy by pounding or bruising the enemy through or under the armor, that could not be penetrated by edged or pointed weapons, Edward I was called Malleus Scotorum. All the families of this name in England trace their descent from the renowned William Lord Mallet de Graville, one of the great barons who accompanied William the Conqueror.
McCABE : The son of Cabe. Caob, Gaelic, a bough, branch, a clod, lump, a bit or piece of any thing. Ceap, the top of a hill, a sign set up in time of battle.
McMURROUGH : The son of Murrough or Murrach; Mor, great, strong, and ach, battle. Mur, a wall, bulwark, and ach.
NAPIER : It is said that Donald, a son of the Earl of Lennox, for his bravery in battle, had his name changed by the king to Napier. After the battle, as the maimer is, every one advancing and setting forth his own acts, the king said unto them, Ye have all done valiantly, but there is one among you who hath 'Na Pier,' and the king gave him lands in Fife and Goffurd. The name came, however, from taking charge of the king's napery or linen at the coronation of English kings, an office held by William De Hastings, in the time of Henry I.
O'HARA : The descendant of Hara, Chaldee form of ara, a mountain. In Gaelic, arra signifies a pledge, treachery; arr, a stag, a hind; arradh, an armament; ara, plural of ar, slaughter, battle. Hara, Saxon, a hare.
RAY : This name may have several origins. Ruadh and Reagh, Gaelic, swarthy, red, sandy complexioned. Re, the moon. Ray, a beam of light, luster. Re, from ruo, to rush, applied to a stream, rapids, whence the river Reay, in Caithness, Scotland. Rea, Cor. Br., wonderful, strange, Rhe, Welsh, a run, Rhedu, to run. Rhae, Welsh, a battle, the place of a battle; a chain.
SPIER : Spere, to ask, to inquire; a word used formerly in Scotland and the north of Ireland. The name may be from spear, a long-pointed weapon used in war, and given for some exploit in battle, or taken from a sign over an inn. John at the Spear.
Origin of name provided by Jean Tosti
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