Genealogy Chat

How about McCollough (or however the Gaelic is transliterated!). McCulloch? Christine

Thank you. I hadn't tried that one. Hope it is not as common as McKellar!!!

John beat me to it, but as a SCot I would go for Macaulay/McAuley or variations. Regards Ellen.

Maybe you've already thought of Macaulay? Regards

Melissa, don't make this any harder for me !!! LOL I originally thought it sounded Spanish......but it's not. Vikings !! OMG

Eileen......... are we related !?!?!? LOL I am also from Newcastle !! Well, Lake Macquarie which is close enough. Small world

William, I love learning about these places.......you can tell me as much as you like! I am UK ignorant.

thanks everyone I will give those names a try. Wow, McKellar is popular in Scotland.......tried Family search & got up to about 3000 of them all from Argyll, before I gave up.

Hi Karen, Could be the spelling is correct but not scottish. My family are Vass not a scottish name but going back just as far, we know it's from the Vikings. Mel in Oz.

HI KAREN MY RELLIES COME FROM SCOTLAND AND THEIR NAME IS McARA. BY THE WAY I'M ALSO IN OZ - NEWCASTLE! REGARDS EILEEN

Karen, I got a Scots friend to have a go at the name Marcarla and she came up with Mc Kellar. Have you tried this ? Elaine x.

Hi again Karen, Ross and Cromarty is the county to go for. She almost certainly moved to the south of England for work. As for the language, Gaelic is still spoken in the north-west of Scotland. Scots Gaelic (pronounced to rhyme with gar-lick but without the 'r') is a close linguistic cousin with Irish Gaelic (pronounced gay-lick but also known as just Irish) and, I think, Manx (which is from the Isle of Man). Welsh, Cornish and Breton are less closely related. There are not many Gaelic speakers these days but it is seeing something of a re-surgence. There are Gaelic medium schools - my brother teaches Gaelic in a (non Gaelic medium) school in the north-west...just as other schools would teach French or German. There are no people who speak just Gaelic - the last lady died about 10/20 years ago, I think. Some children are brought up just to speak gaelic though they will obviously pick English up too. Once again I've gone off on a ramble. May add some more later if it's at all interesting to anyone??! Regards, William

What about searching Macnamara???

Could it be something like Mc Cullough? Heather

Crickey !! I just saw where it is on a map......it must be FREEZING up there!!! It's also a long way from Gravesend !

Thanks Shaun...I'll give it a go

There is no county named Lewis Island, or Hebrides. Do I try ROSS AND CROMARTY ? Does anyone have some suggestions for a Scottish version of Marcarla?? I am running out of ideas Thanks

Hi Karen, another website worth looking at is www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/ it has links to local council websites with valuable info on them. Shaun

Thanks everyone. I'd say Marcarla is a transcription for something like MacKallah, McCalla etc.......do they sound more local?? I have her marriage cert for 1810 in Gravesend Kent. She signed with an 'X' so I guess they wrote down what she said. She didn't come to Australia..her son Abraham did. I wonder why she moved from Lewis Island to Gravesend Kent?? I'll check out those sites. Don't they speak English there????? Thanks

You could perhaps try www*scotsorigins*com which allows you to search OPR's by county in Scotland for births/marriages. It shows the LDS IGI which is often transcribed OPR's or otherwise info submitted by LDS members so you need to check.