Welcome to the Sunday edition of the Coffee Hour at Street Prophets. This is an open thread where we can discuss what’s happening in our lives, what we’ve been working on, and our opinions on current events. I thought we might talk about Scotland.
The great Roman historian Tacitus described the people of Scotland as having red hair and large limbs. While only 1-2% of the world’s population has red hair, in Scotland 13% have red hair. Per capita, Scotland has the most redheads in the world.
Campbell is the sixth most common surname in Scotland. It was originally a nickname coming from a Gaelic phrase cam beul meaning twisted mouth. Comeron was also a nickname coming from cam sron meaning crooked nose.
Patronyms are names which designate the father, such as Robertson (4th most common name in Scotland) and Anderson (8th most common). In some cases, the “son” has been dropped as in Martin or it has been reduced to a terminal “s” as in Adams.
Showing the Celtic heritage of Scotland are the patronyms in the form of “mac” (meaning “son”) as in MacDonald, MacCullough, MacKenzie, and MacLeod. The “mac,” which most people associate with Scottish surnames, was actually dropped by many Highlanders in the face of prejudice. Thus MacCowan became Cowan, MacIlroy became Milroy, MacDonald became Donaldson, MacIain became Johnson, and MacDonnchaidh became Duncanson or simply Duncan.
The most common surname in Scotland is Smith which is an occupational name. Other common occupation names in Scotland include Stewart (7th most common), Taylor (13th most common), and Clark (14th most common).
Red hair and surnames are connected as geneticists have found genetic markers associated with both. Tracing heritage today involves physical traits, surnames, and genetic haplogroups.
Open Thread
This is an open thread. Feel free to talk about genealogy, Scotland, hair color, surnames, politics, religion, or something more important, like what’s for dinner.