Origin
ADAIR : (Celtic and Gaelic.) Local. From Ath, a ford, and dare, from darach, the place of oaks, The ford of the oaks.'' There is the following tradition of the origin of this surname: Thomas, the sixth Earl of Desmond, while on a hunting excursion was benighted, and lost his way, between Tralee and Newcastle, in the county of Limerick, where he was received and hospitably entertained by one William McCormic, whose daughter he subsequently married. At this alliance, the family and clan took umbrage. Resigning his title and estate to his youngest brother, he fled to France in 1418, and died of grief at Rouen, two years afterward. The King of England attended his funeral. He had issue, Maurice and John; Robert, the son of Maurice, returning to Ireland, with the hope of regaining the estates and title of Thomas, his ancestor, slew Gerald, the White Knight in single combat at Athdare, the ford of the oaks, whence he received the name of Adaire. He embarked for Scotland, where he married Arabella, daughter of John Campbell, Lord of Argyle.
ADAMS : (Hebrew) Man, earthly, or red. The surname of Adam is of great antiquity in Scotland. Duncan Adam, son of Alexander Adam, lived in the reign of King Robert Bruce, and had four sons, from whom all the Adams, Adamsons, and Adies in Scotland are descended.
BABCOCK : Little Bab, or Bartholomew; from Bab, a nickname for Bartholomew, and cock, small, little, a son; cic, cock, el, and et are diminutives, and include the ideas of kindness and tenderness, associated with smallness of slib. It may be from Bob, the nickname for Robert; Bobcock, the son of Robert, Robertson.
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.
DOBBIN : The son of Dob or Robert.
DOBBS : The son of Dob or Robert.
DOBSON : The son of Dob or Robert.
GRAY : Local. A town in Burgundy, France, on the banks of the Saone. Rollo, Chamberlain to Robert, Duke of Normandy, received from him the castle and honor of Croy, in Picardy, whence his family assumed the name of De Croy, afterward changed into De Gray.
HAMILTON : Originally Hambleton, from the manor of Ham-bleton, in Buckinghamshire. William, third son of Robert, third Earl of Leicester, took that surname from the place of his birth, as above. He was the founder of the family of that name in Scotland, whither he went about the year 1215. The name is derived from Hamell, a mansion, the seat of a freeholder, and dun, an enclosure, a fortified place, a town.
HOBBS : From Hob, the nick-name for Robert.
HOBKINS : From Hob, Robert, and the patronymic termination kins; the same as Robertson or Hobson.
HOBSON : The son of Hob, or Robert.
HOPKINS : Little Robert, or the child of Robert The same as Hobkins (which see).
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.
LAWRENCE : Flourishing, spreading, from Laurus, the laurel-tree. Sir Robert Lawrence, of Ashton Hall, Lancashire, England, accompanied Richard I. to the Holy Land, 1191.
LESLIE : This family, according to tradition, descended from Bartholomew de Leslyn, a noble Hungarian, who came to Scotland with Queen Margaret, about the year 1067. He was the son of Walter de Leslyn, who had assumed this surnamefrom the castle of Leslyn, in Hungary, where he was born. Bartholomew being in great favor with Malcom Canmore, obtained from that prince grants of several lands in Aberdeenshire, which it is said he called Leslyn, after his own surname. Malcom de Leslyn., who succeeded him, was the progenitor of all the Leslies in Scotland. Robert Verstegan, in his Antiquities, remarks on the word ley: A combat having taken place in Scotland between a noble of the family of Leslie and a foreign knight, in which the Scot was victorious, the following Unes in memory of tho deed, and the place where it happened, are still extant: Between the Less-Ley and the Mair, He slew the knight and left him there. The name may be derived from Lesslo, a maritime territory in Denmark.
TURNBULL : This name had its origin in some feat of personal strength or courage. There is the following tradition of its origin: A strong man of the name of Rud, having turned a wild bull by the head, which violently ran against King Robert Bruce in Stirling Park, received from the king the lands of Bedrule, and the name of Turnbull.
WISHART : Some ancient writers say, that Robert, son of David, Earl of Huntingdon, took on him the cross, and distinguished himself in the Holy Land, where, from his gallant exploits against the Saracens, he received the name of Guishart, that is, Wise-Heart, now Wishart.
Origin of name provided by Jean Tosti
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