Welcome to the Scottish surnames page, The entire subject of Scottish surnames, as well as their association with kinship, is bordered with complications. Well known and professional historians, genealogists and etymologists have attempted to catalog how Scottish surnames came about. And while the work is, for the most part successful, the many exceptions and variations of names make the study of Scottish surnames an incomplete one.

"Mac", Gaelic for "son", is the most frequent part of Scottish surnames.
"Mc" is always an abbreviation of "Mac", it also used to be abbreviated "M'" even though this spelling is now not so common.

"Mac" is always considered an addition to a name. Before there was a "Donald's Son" there was a "Donald". In Scotland names beginning with "Mac" are customarily alphabetized under the first letter of the second name "Mac Arthur" under "A", "Mac Young" under "Y". After the 1745 uprising to avoid reprisals many surnames became Anglicised by dropping the "Mac", or as they emigrated "Mac Neil" becoming plainly "Neil".

just click on one of the links below to find where your Scottish surname originated from, if you cannot find your surname then please e-mail me.