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Subject: [SCT-ISLAY] Re: SCT-ISLAY-D Digest V01 #126
Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 16:10:00 EDT
According to a letter from Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk dated 11 April
1972 regarding the McEachern name:
Your name is not "Son of Hector" (MacEachainn) but "Son of the Horse-Lord"
(MacEachthighearna). The two names are often confused, but are quite
separate.
Dr. George F. Black, the SURNAMES OF SCOTLAND (pub.New York Public
Library 1946) pg. 489, reminds us that "Epidion Akron is the name of the Mull
of Kintyre in the Geography of Ptolemy, c. 140 A.D. The root of the name is
epos horse: the Epidii, a British tribe, were the "horse folk", and it is
interesting to note that Kintyre in historic times has always been claimed as
the home of the Maceacherns of Macecherns."
Islay is, of course, off the coast of Kintyre. Both were under the
domination first of the Macdonalds and then of the Campbells, so it seems
logical that your horsey ancestors were recruited by a Campbell in Islay.
For MacEachern of Killelan (in Kintyre) see J.R.N. Macphail, HIGHLAND
PAPERS (Scot. Hist. Soc.) Vol 11, p 259n. Killelan is midway between
Campbelltown and Dunaverty.
Dr. Black tells us that "On a shaft of the cross at Kilkerran near
Campbelltown, Kintyre, is the inscription:Hec est: crux:Coleni:Mc::Heachyrna:
et Katirine: uxoris: eivs (Drummond, Sculptured monuments of Iona pl
lxxxi). This is probably Colin MacEachern who was chief of the Macecherns in
1499."
If the identification of your name with the Kintyre tribe mentioned by
Ptolemy is correct, yours must be one of the oldest surnames in the World.
With every good wish, (signed) Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk.
In addition to the above, if there are any Campbells who subscribe to
this list, I send condolences in the death of Argyle. He was much too young
to die and a very nice man, indeed.
Marcia McEachron
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