Clan MacKay Connection

[PatrickHughes123]

Hello everyone,

My surname is Hughes.

About a year ago I bought a book on my family name. In the book, it said that the Hughes's could possibly be a Sept of Clan MacKay. The reason behind this is that the surname in Irish is Mac Aiodh and this is the also Scots Gaelic form of MacKay.

Is there anyone from Clan MacKay that can verify that Hughes is a sept of Clan MacKay?

I checked ScotClans.com and it couldn't tell me anything.

Thanks.

[FossilHunter]

Hello everyone,

My surname is Hughes.

About a year ago I bought a book on my family name. In the book, it said that the Hughes's could possibly be a Sept of Clan MacKay. The reason behind this is that the surname in Irish is Mac Aiodh and this is the also Scots Gaelic form of MacKay.

Is there anyone from Clan MacKay that can verify that Hughes is a sept of Clan MacKay?

I checked ScotClans.com and it couldn't tell me anything.

Thanks.

Not mackay but I thought I might ask if you know where in the highlands your Hughes ancestors came from? That may give you better information on clan affiliation than name alone.

If your Hughes were from an area that is traditionally associated with clan mackay, then that would be a pretty strong argument if favor of them having been associated with that clan.

[Mike S]

The surname Hughs can of course also be Welsh. I realize that you are from Scotland, but there was a lot of immigration between Wales and Scotland, especially post 870AD. No less than William Wallace's ancestry is just such an example of this interaction.

[Steve Ashton]

We have discussed this topic many times before. But the misconception persists.

This idea of Clan affiliation is far less about what surname a person has, than it is the area where that person's people come from.
Even a quick look at a Clan map will bear this out. It is about regions and areas.

This idea that if you have Scottish heritage - that you will somehow automatically have a Clan affiliation simply does not
hold up.

The truth is, that the Clan system was only in the Highlands or the Northwest part of Scotland. The majority of the population of Scotland were not Highlanders and not part of a Highland Clan. But they were still 100% Scottish with a rich heritage their descendents can be proud of.

I am proud that even one of my great, geat great grand parents was from Scotland. The percentages are that he was probably not a Highlander. But I am still proud of where that part of me comes from.

The Lowland Scots of the late 1700's were the most literate people in the world at the time. No one can erase that from history. No one can erase that from my history.

I really don't have to find a Clan connection to make me anything more.

[PatrickHughes123]

The surname Hughs can of course also be Welsh. I realize that you are from Scotland, but there was a lot of immigration between Wales and Scotland, especially post 870AD. No less than William Wallace's ancestry is just such an example of this interaction.

I am pretty sure Wallace is a descendant of the Cumbrian speakers in Southern Scotland that were already there. Cumbrians or Britons, whatever term you want to use. They spoke a P-Celtic language called Cumbric, some people say it is a dialect of Common Brittonic.

[PatrickHughes123]

We have discussed this topic many times before. But the misconception persists.

This idea of Clan affiliation is far less about what surname a person has, than it is the area where that person's people come from.
Even a quick look at a Clan map will bear this out. It is about regions and areas.

This idea that if you have Scottish heritage - that you will somehow automatically have a Clan affiliation simply does not
hold up.

The truth is, that the Clan system was only in the Highlands or the Northwest part of Scotland. The majority of the population of Scotland were not Highlanders and not part of a Highland Clan. But they were still 100% Scottish with a rich heritage their descendents can be proud of.

I am proud that even one of my great, geat great grand parents was from Scotland. The percentages are that he was probably not a Highlander. But I am still proud of where that part of me comes from.

The Lowland Scots of the late 1700's were the most literate people in the world at the time. No one can erase that from history. No one can erase that from my history.

I really don't have to find a Clan connection to make me anything more.

Yes, I have seen you say this before.

Although, this is a thing that isn't restricted to the Highlands. The Border Reivers followed the clan system, the Armstrong's, the Elliot's, the Scott's, the Kerr's and the Johnstone's, vicious warriors.

The Gaels in South-Western Scotland (Galloway, Dumfries, Annandale, etc) also followed the clan system as most people in these areas were apart of clans in the Highlands, and Galloway is home to the Clan MacLellan.

North-Eastern Scotland also follows this clan system with Clans such as MacDuff, in Fife and the MacDuff's even have a branch in Lothian as well as some Highland branches.

And believe it or not, the dynasties of Scotland such as the MacAlpine's and the Stewarts, actually historically speaking followed the same clan idea, with family heads.

Other historically prestigious Scottish families, such as the Douglas's, the Wallace's, the Murray's, the Bruce's actually followed the clan system, with chiefs/family heads.

I do understand some things were Victorian inventions, but the idea of Clans being a national thing in Scotland is not.

[PatrickHughes123]

Not mackay but I thought I might ask if you know where in the highlands your Hughes ancestors came from? That may give you better information on clan affiliation than name alone.

If your Hughes were from an area that is traditionally associated with clan mackay, then that would be a pretty strong argument if favor of them having been associated with that clan.

I don't know to be perfectly honest. I don't even know if my ancestors were Highlanders. I will maybe do a Ancestry test one day. But for now, I just want to find out based on surname. Regardless of Victorian influence.

[Mike S]

I am pretty sure Wallace is a descendant of the Cumbrian speakers in Southern Scotland that were already there. Cumbrians or Britons, whatever term you want to use. They spoke a P-Celtic language called Cumbric, some people say it is a dialect of Common Brittonic.

The Brythonic linguistic group i.e. Cornish, Cumbric, Welsh are all P-Celtic languages that share a common heritage, as do those Celtic groups who speak/spoke them. Those who inhabit the associated modern regions (paramount Wales) are descendants of these groups, who originally inhabited much of what is present day England as well.

Cumbric' - the name given to the Welsh/Brythonic dialect spoken from the Scottish Highlands southwards and the language of the kingdom of Strathclyde.

https://books.google.be/books…

As far as we can tell this was a dialect of Common Brythonic and very similar to Old Welsh, Cornish and Breton.

This language may have survived as late as the 12th century.