Gaelic Awareness

Gaelic Surnames

Historically Gaelic surnames in the English sense were not generally used, at least in colloquial Gaelic, except when speaking of strangers.

Everyone living in a Gaelic speaking district had a local name describing his/her trade and/or occupation or some physical peculiarity, as in Calum Mór, an sgeulaiche (Big Malcolm, The Storyteller).

Sometimes people were named after the place they lived in last or born in as in Eòs Siùdaig (Joe Judique).

If the person named is of a family long settled in a district he/she will probably be named after his/her father or grandfather, i.e. Seumas Mac Aonghuis ’ic Iain ’ic Uilleim ’ic Mhurchaidh (James, son of Angus, son of John, son of William, son of Murdock) or Oighrig Nighean Shandi Choinnich (Effie, daughter of Sandy Kenneth)

Where a person’s mother was a native of the area married to an outsider, a son may be called after her, i.e. Dòmhnull Ciorstan (Kirsten’s Donald).

The sole object of Gaelic surnames was to make the identity of the person spoken of as clear as possible through the speaker reminding his/her listeners by means of his/her name every time it is mentioned, to whom or "where" he/she belongs.

Note that Donald Black in Gaelic is Dòmhnull Mac Gille Dhuibh (Donald, Son of the Dark Haired Servant). The literal translation, Dòmhnull Dubh (Dark-haired Donald), may, if used, prove misleading, for that is much more likely to be the local way of referring to someone named Donald Cameron or Donald Smith, both of whom may have dark hair.

As referenced previous, to make identification easier for someone named Donald Black, the Gaelic language deals with this by connecting the individual back to the father and/or grandfather, i.e. Dòmhnuill Iain Ghilleasbuig (Donald, son of John, son of Archibald).

The following list of surnames is the result of collections done in Scotland by internationally renowned Gaelic scholar Edward Dwelly from available sources from 1880 to 1911.

Most, if not all of these surnames are found in Nova Scotia, brought by Gaelic speaking settlers from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

Accompanying notes have been provided where possible to indicate possible origins of names.

Notes are not provided for more obvious surnames, i.e. MacMichael - Mac/Nic Mhìcheil which means "son/daughter of Michael".

The names below with very few revisions or additions are how Dwelly presents them in his Faclair Gàidhlig Gu Beurla Le Dealbhan (Dwelly’s Illustrated Gaelic To English Dictionary) and as he himself writes, "is an attempt to gather [Gaelic surnames] into one alphabetical list from all the newspapers, magazines, books, etc." at the time.

Dwelly uses the spelling "m a c" in this list, however it is also commonly seen spelled as "m c" and both convey the same meaning when found in a surname, "son of".

For Gaelic surnames beginning with "mac", the word "mac" is changed to "nic" to create the female form, i.e. Mac Dhòmhnuill becomes Nic Dhòmhnuill, thus Catrìona Nic Dhòmhnuill (Catherine MacDonald).

Additionally, a female form of a surname, in surnames not containing "mac", is created by adding an ‘h’ after the first consonant, i.e. Peatan becomes Pheatan. Thus Mairearad Pheatan (Margaret Beaton).

Gaelic Proverbs / Seannfhacail

Proverbs hold a special place in world languages. The same is true of Gaelic language in Nova Scotia. Included in this section are proverbs with English equivalents that represent a rich part of Gaelic speech. Proverbs presented here are found in Féis an Eilein’s 2007 Mìosachan (Gaelic calendar) and are based on A Collection of Gaelic Proverbs and familiar phrases based upon MacIntosh’s Collection, Edinburgh 1882, edited by Alexander Carmichael. Gaelic proofing for the 2007 calendar was done by Goiridh Dòmhnullach and Seumus Watson. Sound files for each proverb are provided for reference.

Proverbs With Translations

• The first story from the host, and tales till morning from the guest — A’ chiad sgeul air fear an taighe ’s gach sgeul gu lath’ air an aoidh
• He that is obstinate will often meet his match — A’ fear a ni dìorras, is iomadh a ni dìorras ris
• The cross between me and mishap — Croisean sgiorradh
• The little bannock with a blessing is better than the big one with a curse — Is fhèarr am bonnach beag leis a’ bheannachd, na ’m bonnach mór leis a’ mhollachd
• The twist of the mother is natural to the daughter — An car a bhios ’s a’ mhàthair, ’s gnà leis a bhi ’s an nighinn
• Green are the hills that are far from us — Is gorm na cnuic ’tha fada ’uainn
• Who keeps his tongue will keep his friend — A’ fear a ghléidheas a theanga, gléidhidh e ’charaid
• To him that farthest went away the sweetest music he ever heard was ‘come home’ — A’ fear a’s fhaide, ’chaidh o ’n taigh, ’s e ’n ceòl ’bu bhinne chual’ e ’riamh ‘tuigainn dachaidh’
• Little by little as the cat ate the herring — A lìon beagan ’us beagan, mar a dh’ ith an cat a’ sgadan
• The descendants of the Gael shoulder to shoulder — Clanna nan Gàidheal ’an guaillibh a chéile
• Remember those from whom you came — Cuimhnich air na daoine bho ’n d’ thàinig thu
• No door ever shut but another opened — Cha do dhùin dorust, nach d’ fhosgail dorust