Origin
ROOT : Local. A place lying low, the base, foot, or bottom of a mountain, the lower part of land.
BUCHANAN : Local. A parish in the shire of Sterling, Scotland. The derivation of the name is uncertain. It is probably from the same root as Buchan.
CHURCH : Local. A house of Christian worship, derived from the old English chirch, and Scottish Kirk, Latin circus, and this from the Gaelic cearcal, a temple, a round building. The root of Church is from the Gaelic car, roundness, from which we have cirke or kirke.
DONALD : (Gaelic and Celtic.) A great man, a proud chieftain, from Domhnull. These names appear to have their root in the Gaelic noun Dion, a defense, shelter, protection. The verb Dion signifies to defend, to protect Dun has nearly the same meaning, a heap, a hill, or mount, a fortified house or hill, a castle. Surnames compounded of Dion, Don, or Dun, were figuratively usdd to denote persons of courage, and who were not easily subdued.
DONELL : (Gaelic and Celtic.) A great man, a proud chieftain, from Domhnull. These names appear to have their root in the Gaelic noun Dion, a defense, shelter, protection. The verb Dion signifies to defend, to protect Dun has nearly the same meaning, a heap, a hill, or mount, a fortified house or hill, a castle. Surnames compounded of Dion, Don, or Dun, were figuratively usdd to denote persons of courage, and who were not easily subdued.
DONELLY : (Gaelic and Celtic.) A great man, a proud chieftain, from Domhnull. These names appear to have their root in the Gaelic noun Dion, a defense, shelter, protection. The verb Dion signifies to defend, to protect Dun has nearly the same meaning, a heap, a hill, or mount, a fortified house or hill, a castle. Surnames compounded of Dion, Don, or Dun, were figuratively usdd to denote persons of courage, and who were not easily subdued.
GALE : A Gael or Scot; a stranger. Fingal, the white stranger, Dugal, the black stranger, alluding to the complexion or color of the hair. The root of Gall, or Gaul, is Hal, the sun, from which we have Gal, Gel, Gl, brilliant, bright, glorious. Welsh, haul, Cornish British, houl, the sun. Ge, brilliant, and haul; Gehaul, Gaul, the ancient name of France still called sunny France.
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.
LAUD : From the same root as loud, widely celebrated, Latin, laus. laudis, praise; Welsh, clod; Gaelic or Irish, cloth; German, laut.
MURRAY : De Moravia. Some deduce this family from a warlike people called the Moravu, who came from Germany into Scotland, and affixed their own nomenclature to that district now called the shire of Moray. The root of the name is the same whether Moravian or Gaelic, and signifies the groat water, from mort great, and an or av, water.
MORAY : De Moravia. Some deduce this family from a warlike people called the Moravu, who came from Germany into Scotland, and affixed their own nomenclature to that district now called the shire of Moray. The root of the name is the same whether Moravian or Gaelic, and signifies the groat water, from mort great, and an or av, water.
STRACHAN : (Gaelic) Local. From the parish of Strachan in Kincardineshire, Scotland, formerly Strathaen. The name may come from stra or strath, a vale, from the root strath, a valley, through which a river runs, and chan or ceann, the head, meaning the head of the valley, or a little valley, from Strathan.
TOURNAY : Local. From Tournay, a town in Artois, France, and may signify the tower or castle near the water. Tierna, in Gaelic, written Tighearna, means a landlord, a lord, or judge, and was applied to all great men, and is derived, according to Dr. MacPherson, from te or ti, an old word for one, and eren, land, as implying a landed gentleman; I think the root of the name is Tir, land, and earr or earran, a division, share, or portion.
Origin of name provided by Jean Tosti
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