Cameron of Locheil - some help needed

[Nathan]

Good grief gents - spelling is something that really is only a couple of hundred years old at most. That means that there will be many, many residuals. My clan for example: Sinclair / St. Clair / Santo Claro / Sinkler and so it goes. At one time they were all the same thing.

Let us neither get our knickers into knots, nor descend into the trenches to toss mudpies in either direction!

Hear! Hear!

I had a similar argument with a Gaelic speaking friend of mine who lives in Lochaber. He prefers to spell the name of our shared clan, Clan Ranald whereas the Lord Lyon and the Captain of the Clan spell it Clanranald. The logic of his argument was sound as he pointed to the Gaelic roots of the words and other similar usage: Clan Donald, Clan Cameron etc... For my side, I cited that Clanranald was a branch of Clan Donald and the missing space provided a clue to that effect and that regardless of that logic, we should follow what the Chief and Lord Lyon deem official in the name of unity. In the end, we were able to remain friends and move forward.

I want to echo Father Bill's remarks and add that regardless of how our various personalities and sensibilities may rub one another, let us make every effort to disagree without being disagreeable. It's not always easy, but it is a worthy goal.

Rèiteachd,

Nathan