The faimly name or surname haesna been aboot that lang in Scotland, or, at least, wisna universal until thir bygane twa-three hunner year. Clans an kin groups haes been aroond for faur langar an didna necessar want a faimly name tae ken ane anither. In the Middle Ages it wis jist as common in Scotland tae be kent as belangin a jaloused forebear or tae gae wi the name o yer faither, yer tred, or mibby the place ye bade. But amang the Scots-speakin fowk o the east an sooth o mainland Scotland the siccar, unchengin eftername, haundit doun fae faither tae son an dochter, wis ordnar til jist aboot awbody bi 1500.

Faimly names sic as Bruce, Hamiltoun, Melvin or Stewart haed stertit aff amang Norman an Fleems faimlies, fae the 12t an 13t centuries, an spreid as thair pouer grew, whiles throu thair ain bluidline, an whiles throu follaers that took on the names o thair maisters: no aw Stewarts is sib the king, sae the saw gaes. Mony ither fowk took names fae thair treds, or whaur thay bade, an at some pynt the name stuck an awbody efter them wis cawed the same whither thay haed the same tred, or bade in the same place, or no.

In the wast an north o the kintra, whaur maistly Gaelic wis spoken, fowk micht’a kent thairsels as belangin a kin group – the descendars o sic an sic a cheil – or kent bi the name o thair faither – Alisaunder son o Donal, while Alisaunder’s son Jeems wis kent as Jeems son o Alisaunder. It wisna until the 17t century whan the king an kirk threapit that fowk gae wi siccar names that this custom becam common, tho a puckle pouerfae faimlies sic as Caumel an MacKennie haed awready made this chenge.

In Orkney, an mair parteeclar Shetland, a siccar, unchengin faimly name wis gey uncommon amang the ordnar fowk afore 1800. Thay haed lang follaed thair Scandinavian tradeetion o takkin the faither’s first name as an eftername, hit chengin wi ilka faimly gree. But in the 19t century, as the authorities in Embra an Lunnon ettled at makkin awthing centrified an staundart the siccar faimly name creepit ben the islands an-aw.

But here the aemaist important pynt: the conceit that we aw, ilk ane o us, belangs a clan or faimly name that we can tak back, unchenged, tae the Middle Ages or ayont, is a myth. For fowk in thae days wadna necessar gree wi the identities that we haud the day.