De-Anglicisation of Names

[slohairt]

I tried to add this to my other reply, but for some reason it wouldn't let me
Anyhow...

I had never ran across the Norse origin for Holmes, that is most interesting.
Here's what I've been able to dig up thus far:

Last Name Meaning & Genealogy Links for the Surname HOLMES
Meaning & Origin: A geographical surname from the northern Middle English holm, meaning "island" for an individual who lived on an island, or a piece of low-lying meadow lands near or surrounded by water.
Also, a geographic surname for someone who lived near where holly trees grew, from the Middle English holm.

Sometimes an Anglicized version of the Irish, Mac an Thomáis.

Surname Origin: English
Alternate Surname Spellings: HOLME, HUME, HOME, HOLM

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Last name origins & meanings:

English (chiefly central and northern England): variant of Holme.
Scottish: probably a habitational name from Holmes near Dundonald, or from a place so called in the barony of Inchestuir.
Scottish and Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Thomáis, Mac Thómais (see McComb). In part of western Ireland, Holmes is a variant of Cavish (from Gaelic Mac Thámhais, another patronymic from Thomas).

Thanks again...this is a very interesting thread.

The northern English word holm, I believe, IS derived from the Norse holmr, as many place name elements in the north of England are derived from Norse. I'm speaking etymologically, of course. This does not mean that the bearers of the name are of Norse origin, merely the word they use as a surname is.

Mac Thomáis (the "an" would incorrect as it means "the") does indeed mean son of Tomás (Thomas) in Irish. This would be pronounced as MAC HOM-ISH. Mac Thomàis and Mac Tamhais are Scottish Gaelic and are pronounced MAC HOM-ISH and MAC TAV-ISH respectively.

McComb would be Anglicised from Mac Thoim meaning son of Tom.

[BoldHighlander]

The northern English word holm, I believe, IS derived from the Norse holmr, as many place name elements in the north of England are derived from Norse. I'm speaking etymologically, of course. This does not mean that the bearers of the name are of Norse origin, merely the word they use as a surname is.

Slohairt, I do not doubt what you tell me about Norse name origin of Holmes, I'd just never heard it before.
It's very interesting. And makes sense about (some) surnames in the north having Norse place name origins, for instance a while back in discussing the surname origin of my Scobee's (also spelled Scobie /Scoby in our family) with the Mackay Seanachaidh (Scotland) who's made a study of the family he told me that: "...they say that the name came from the ancient possession of land of this name in Perthshire, but the Scoby family of Yorks must derive from an Old Norse "-farm" name."
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(I ran across both of these recently in a web search -- )

SCOBIE: dweller at the wood farm.

Last name origin & meaning (Scobie):
Scottish: habitational name from a lost place in Perthshire, named with Gaelic sgolbach 'thorny place'.
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Anyhow, thanks again for sharing your knowledge with us

[Galician]

Forgive me if this is a duplicate, but, watching the presidential campaign for this country, the question crossed my mind as to what you could do with the name McCain.

[slohairt]

Forgive me if this is a duplicate, but, watching the presidential campaign for this country, the question crossed my mind as to what you could do with the name McCain.

Without knowing exactly what John McCain's ancestry is, it would be difficult to say. McCain can be Irish or Scottish, here are some original forms it could be derived from:

Mac Catháin 'son of Cathán' (little warrior) Irish
Mac Eoghain 'son of Eoghan' (well-born) Irish or Scottish
Mac Eoin 'son of John' Irish or Scottish
Mac Gill'Eain 'son of the servant of St. John' Scottish

[BoldHighlander]

Without knowing exactly what John McCain's ancestry is, it would be difficult to say. McCain can be Irish or Scottish, here are some original forms it could be derived from:

Mac Catháin 'son of Cathán' (little warrior) Irish
Mac Eoghain 'son of Eoghan' (well-born) Irish or Scottish
Mac Eoin 'son of John' Irish or Scottish
Mac Gill'Eain 'son of the servant of St. John' Scottish

My understanding is that his people were Ulster-Scots.