Boydstuns: Boyd or Boyle?

[blackbear]

Hey all! I have Boydstuns back in my family tree. They go back to Renfrewshire, Scotland. I thought I saw that the Boyle clan came from the same area. Would Boydstun come only from Clan Boyd or are Boyd and Boyle at all interchangeable like Robinson and Robertson? Thanks
~Aaron

[Kiltedjohn]

It's hard to say. When you do family history research, you find lots of variant spellings. In times when many people were illiterate, they might not know the "correct" spelling, and it would be up to the registrar to make an intelligent guess! Therefore, my "Lawrie" ancestors appear variously as Lawrie, Laurie, Lowrie, and Laur. The same may perhaps be true of Boyd and Boyle.

[davidlpope]

The only way to know is to do the hard work of genealogy and trace your particular family back to their origins.

If you proceed in the direction you're currently going you're merely creating a fake ancestry or connection for yourself.

[ThistleDown]

The surname Boydston is literally 'of Boyd's town', a now-vanished collection of cots near Irvine, so no Highland clan connection.