Kirkuff?

[berserkbishop]

Ok, I have been trying to track down my girlfriends Scottish heritage and we have found several surnames that are easily Scottish like Anderson, but I am having a hard time placing some of the others. One, Kirkuff sounds like it should be Scottish to me but I'm not finding a lot out about it. Another, Hayne or Hanye, seems Irish, but I have also seen accounts of it being Scottish. Well, any help would be appreciated.

Regards,
Bishop

[Jack Daw]

When I did a name search for Kirkuff, all finds came back with some American connection, primarily New Jersey. This makes me wonder if the name was slightly changed in spelling at arrival in America. This was not uncommon at Ellis Island. So, maybe the root name is Kirkoff? Kirkoffner?

[gilmore]

Surname Profiler here http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/Surnames.aspx shows no results for Kirkuff. That means there were less than 100 by that name in Britain in 1998.

It could be Slavic, from Kirkoff, or most anything else. The only way to really know a surname ancestry is either the long slow process of tracing the paper trail back generation by generation, or perhaps---and just perhaps----by Y chromosome DNA. See www.ftdna.com for their FAQ on this.

[berserkbishop]

When I did a name search for Kirkuff, all finds came back with some American connection, primarily New Jersey. This makes me wonder if the name was slightly changed in spelling at arrival in America. This was not uncommon at Ellis Island. So, maybe the root name is Kirkoff? Kirkoffner?

I actually said the same thing. I know that happened with my family, but luckily it was pretty obvious that Malcom MacLeod Rasey was originally Malcom Macleod of Raasay

Bishop

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I actually said the same thing. I know that happened with my family, but luckily it was pretty obvious that Malcom MacLeod Rasey was originally Malcom Macleod of Raasay

Bishop

He could also have been styled Malcom MacLeod at Raasay, indicating that he was a tacksman of his Chief. There was also the habit of refering to people by their territorial designation-- in other words in ordinary correspondence and in conversation he would have been called "Raasay" to distinguish him from the half dozen or so other "Malcom" MacLeods living in the area.

This practice continues down to the present day-- John Duncan of Sketraw would be as correctly refered to as "Sketraw" as "Duncan of Sketraw".

[berserkbishop]

He could also have been styled Malcom MacLeod at Raasay, indicating that he was a tacksman of his Chief. There was also the habit of refering to people by their territorial designation-- in other words in ordinary correspondence and in conversation he would have been called "Raasay" to distinguish him from the half dozen or so other "Malcom" MacLeods living in the area.

This practice continues down to the present day-- John Duncan of Sketraw would be as correctly refered to as "Sketraw" as "Duncan of Sketraw".

Interesting little tidbit of information there. Ok, I will probably Google this one but "Tacksman?" I'm not really sure where he stood with his clan, or who his father was. It becomes a lot harder to find the ancestors when they were in Scotland.

Bishop

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

A tacksman held land from the chief of the clan, which he subdivided and rented out to other clansmen. The position would be similar to an overseer in the American south.

[gilmore]

A tacksman held land from the chief of the clan, which he subdivided and rented out to other clansmen. The position would be similar to an overseer in the American south.

...Huh?