Interesting email from an Irish fellow about Irish kilts.

[slohairt]

How about the Irish Gunns and the Scots Gunns? That's a hard name to change accidentally or by the passage of time. Or the Irish McGraths and the Scottish MacRaes? Both of the latter claim Maccraith as progenitor - is it a different Maccraith?

I would say that Gunn hasn't changed at all, accidentally or otherwise. According to all reputable sources, Gunn is always a Highland surname, ultimately of Norse origin. The Irish Gunns would simply be descendants of Highlanders.

McGrath and MacRae (or Magrath, McGraw, etc.,) are all Anglicisations of the Gaelic Mac Raith (earlier Irish Mag Raith) meaning 'son of Rath'. For some reason, this is often rendered as Mac Craith in Modern Irish. If Gaelic mythology is any clue, it would appear that Rath was a very common personal name in ancient times. Several unrelated clans in both Scotland and Ireland could have risen and fallen over the centuries, with their descendants today lumped into one or two groups.

[CameronTaylor]

In the numerous times I've been to Ireland I've never had the occasion to meet anybody (Northern or Southern) that has the attitude of the guy in the original post.
I equate his "problem" the same as I do with other loud-mouth types.
Big-talking ex-New Yorkers, Texans, Ohioans, etc ... don't represent the place they come from (and those back there are largely happy said mouths left) and should be ignored at all cost.


CT - play nice, that's all

[O'Callaghan]

I would say that Gunn hasn't changed at all, accidentally or otherwise. According to all reputable sources, Gunn is always a Highland surname, ultimately of Norse origin. The Irish Gunns would simply be descendants of Highlanders.

McGrath and MacRae (or Magrath, McGraw, etc.,) are all Anglicisations of the Gaelic Mac Raith (earlier Irish Mag Raith) meaning 'son of Rath'. For some reason, this is often rendered as Mac Craith in Modern Irish. If Gaelic mythology is any clue, it would appear that Rath was a very common personal name in ancient times. Several unrelated clans in both Scotland and Ireland could have risen and fallen over the centuries, with their descendants today lumped into one or two groups.

The Maccraith that founded the Irish MacGraths was not the son of a Rath or Raith or anything like that according the old lineages, FWIW.

"In Kerry, the following have been the chief Anglo-Norman and English families:--Fitzmaurice, earls of Kerry, descended from Raymond le Gros, a celebrated warrior who came over with Strongbow. Raymond having formed an alliance with Dermot MacCarthy, King of Desmond, got large grants of land in Kerry, in the territory called Lixnaw. The other principal families were those of Herbert, Brown, Stack, Blennerhasset, Crosbie, Denny, Gunn, Godfrey, Morris, Rice, Spring, etc."

http://www.libraryireland.com/Pedigrees1/Desmond.php

[The Ulsterman]

Well folks, as someone who lives in Northern Ireland, i find this thread most enlightening, (and apologies for keeping it going)
I must say also, you guys really do know your stuff, and as was said earlier, this guy most likely knows very little about his own ancestry, or even cares.
It's great to see so many level headed people working so hard to keep ties with their respective roots (should they be Irish, Scottish, Ulster-Scots, German or whatever).......
It's true that very few kilts are worn in Ireland or Northern Ireland, except for the pipe band fraternity, but then again, i could probably say the same about Scotland.
I have read this thread from start to finish, and found it to be of great interest.

The fact that he is living in Ohio and working at a Irish pub while complaining about Irish-Americans is an irony not lost on me...

...brilliant!!!

...and that just about sums him up doesn't it?

It's kinda ironic too though, that the same "young Irishman" was at the time of writing,.. most likely wearing Levis jeans, baseball boots, baseball cap and "I LOVE NY" T-shirt, whilst eating his hamburger and listening to Puff Daddy.
He is what's know in this neck of the woods, as a "slabber".
Keep doing what you love doing guys and girls, and as long as we're free to do it, that's all that matters.
Neil. (The plastic Ulster-Scot)

[GDub]

It's kinda ironic too though, that the same "young Irishman" was at the time of writing,.. most likely wearing Levis jeans, baseball boots, baseball cap and "I LOVE NY" T-shirt, whilst eating his hamburger and listening to Puff Daddy.

LOL! Exactly! "Slabber" is one for the books.

Sláinte