Americans Still Carry These 700 Year Old Scottish Insults As Surnames
Traced in the DNA
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Campbell, Cameron, Kennedy, Wallace — four of the proudest surnames in Scotland, and every one began as something a neighbour said behind a man's back. Crooked mouth. Crooked nose. Ugly head. Foreigner. A clerk wrote it down, the name stuck, and it outlived the man, the glen and the language it was said in.
Fifteen of them, counted down to the insult that became the most powerful name in the Highlands:
15. Hogg — a yearling sheep (and Ima Hogg of Texas)
14. Cruickshank — crooked legs (and the plates of Oliver Twist)
13. Proudfoot — the strut (and Tolkien's "Proudfeet!")
12. Tod — the fox (and Mary Todd Lincoln)
11. Dougall / MacDowall — the dark stranger (and Fingal's Cave)
10. Kerr — not the left-hander: the bog
9. MacMillan — son of the bald one (and Alice in Wonderland)
8. MacPherson — son of the parson (and Ossian, the forgery Jefferson loved)
7. Wishart — the cunning (a bishop who stood by Bruce, a preacher burned in 1546)
6. Bowie — the sallow (the Alamo and the knife)
5. Galbraith — the British stranger (and J. K. Galbraith)
4. Wallace — the Welshman (and Ben-Hur)
3. Kennedy — the ugly head (Carrick, Wexford and a president)
2. Cameron — the crooked nose (and the deepest solo dive on earth)
1. Campbell — the crooked mouth (Argyll, Glencoe, and Warhol's soup cans)
Which one does your family carry? Tell me in the comments.
🔎 TRACE YOUR SURNAME: https://dnaorigin.org
Type in your surname and it does the research for you: what the name meant — in Gaelic, Scots or Norman French — which part of Scotland it began in, the clan or family it belongs to, when it crossed to Ulster or America, and the families who carried it before you. Or scan the QR code on screen.
Sources used in this episode: George F. Black, The Surnames of Scotland (1946); Hanks, Coates & McClure, The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland (2016); Dwelly's Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary; the Dictionary of the Scots Language; the Ragman Roll (1296); the Scots Peerage; Thomas Jefferson to Charles McPherson (1773); Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (1954); Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837–38).
Watch next:
▶ How to Tell Highland, Lowland, Border and Ulster Scots Apart by Their Last Names
▶ If You Have One of These 15 "Scottish" Surnames, Your Family Was Actually Norman
▶ Nearly Every American With Scottish Blood Descends From One Medieval King
Every meaning tonight comes from the language itself, and every family from a record. No legends. Only ink.
#ScottishSurnames #ScottishAncestry #Genealogy #Surnames #FamilyHistory #Gaelic #Campbell #Cameron #Kennedy #TracedInTheDNA
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Americans Still Carry These 700 Year Old Scottish Insults As Surnames
Traced in the DNA
6,813 views
DESCRIPTION
======================================================================
Campbell, Cameron, Kennedy, Wallace — four of the proudest surnames in Scotland, and every one began as something a neighbour said behind a man's back. Crooked mouth. Crooked nose. Ugly head. Foreigner. A clerk wrote it down, the name stuck, and it outlived the man, the glen and the language it was said in.
Fifteen of them, counted down to the insult that became the most powerful name in the Highlands:
15. Hogg — a yearling sheep (and Ima Hogg of Texas)
14. Cruickshank — crooked legs (and the plates of Oliver Twist)
13. Proudfoot — the strut (and Tolkien's "Proudfeet!")
12. Tod — the fox (and Mary Todd Lincoln)
11. Dougall / MacDowall — the dark stranger (and Fingal's Cave)
10. Kerr — not the left-hander: the bog
9. MacMillan — son of the bald one (and Alice in Wonderland)
8. MacPherson — son of the parson (and Ossian, the forgery Jefferson loved)
7. Wishart — the cunning (a bishop who stood by Bruce, a preacher burned in 1546)
6. Bowie — the sallow (the Alamo and the knife)
5. Galbraith — the British stranger (and J. K. Galbraith)
4. Wallace — the Welshman (and Ben-Hur)
3. Kennedy — the ugly head (Carrick, Wexford and a president)
2. Cameron — the crooked nose (and the deepest solo dive on earth)
1. Campbell — the crooked mouth (Argyll, Glencoe, and Warhol's soup cans)
Which one does your family carry? Tell me in the comments.
🔎 TRACE YOUR SURNAME: https://dnaorigin.org
Type in your surname and it does the research for you: what the name meant — in Gaelic, Scots or Norman French — which part of Scotland it began in, the clan or family it belongs to, when it crossed to Ulster or America, and the families who carried it before you. Or scan the QR code on screen.
Sources used in this episode: George F. Black, The Surnames of Scotland (1946); Hanks, Coates & McClure, The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland (2016); Dwelly's Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary; the Dictionary of the Scots Language; the Ragman Roll (1296); the Scots Peerage; Thomas Jefferson to Charles McPherson (1773); Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (1954); Dickens, Oliver Twist (1837–38).
Watch next:
▶ How to Tell Highland, Lowland, Border and Ulster Scots Apart by Their Last Names
▶ If You Have One of These 15 "Scottish" Surnames, Your Family Was Actually Norman
▶ Nearly Every American With Scottish Blood Descends From One Medieval King
Every meaning tonight comes from the language itself, and every family from a record. No legends. Only ink.
#ScottishSurnames #ScottishAncestry #Genealogy #Surnames #FamilyHistory #Gaelic #Campbell #Cameron #Kennedy #TracedInTheDNA