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In the anglecized gaelic of our ancestors, our name was (and is) MacDhomhnaill "son of Donald". Common English variations of the name are: Macdonald, MacDonald, Macdonnell, MacDonnell, McDonald. One can also find, particulary in the United States, McDaniel, McDanel, McDonel, etc.
In the course of my genealogical research, I've found over thirty variations of the name - some are obviously mistakes made by writers unfamiliar with the name, others spellings were probably considered perfectly acceptable by tthe people who used them. Other variations include: McDonnald, M'Donnald, MDonel, McDonell, McDonnel, McDanel(s), McDonold, McDaneld, etc.
It is important to realize that, with few exceptions, THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE between the variant spellings - MacDonald and McDonald are perfectly equivalent. The common myth that "McDonald" is Irish and "MacDonald" is Scottish is absolutely erroneous. Only occasionally can important genealogical information be derived from the spelling. MacDonnell may indicated the ancestor came from Glengarry or the Glens of Antrim in Northern Ireland. McDaniel is usually thought of as an American version of M(a)cDonald, but the origin of the name may not be quite that simple, as mentioned below.
According to "The Book of Irish Families, Great and Small"*
McDonald, McDaniel, and McDonnell are "of Scottish Origin, common,
as a rule, in the province of Ulster". Elsewhere in the book, however,
the name McDonnell is discussed at length. One branch is described, rightly
so, as that of Clan Donald of Scottish origins: "descended from the
McDonnells of Argyllshire, Scotland. They came to Scotland in the 13th century
settling in Antrim. The leading line of this name were known as 'Lord of
the Isles'". Others of the name, however, may have come from old Irish
families: the McDonnells of Fermanagh and the McDonnels of Thomand and Co.
Clare. "They descended from Domhnall (Donal), son of King Mrutagh Mor
O'Brien. The name here is also spelled as McDaniell." [page 83]
* (copyright 1997, Irish Genealogical Foundation, Box 7575, Kansas City,
MO 64116)
The current head of Clan Donald, residing on the Isle of Skye, is Godfrey James Macdonald. That's with a small "d".
Anyone of the name M(a)cDonald, M(a)cDonnell, or M(a)cDaniel is invariably asked "Are you Scottish or Irish". After several years of reading and research, I've concluded that the only appropriate answer is "yes". Clan Donald is CELTIC, of the race of the Celts, of those who migrated across Europe, fought Ceasear and the Romans, and eventually settled in Ireland, western Scotland, the Isle of Man, Cornwall, Brittany and Wales. The original Scots, the "Scoti", were Celts and Irish natives, who moved from Irish soil to the western islands and highlands of Scotland and settled there. At the height of its power, in the mid-1400s, Clan Donald controlled most of the western Islands, much of the western Highlands, and northeast areas of what is now Northern Ireland. To the Lords of the Isles, there was no distinction between Irish and Scottish - there was only Clan Donald. Even today, with the troubles in Northern Ireland between Catholics and Protestants and Irish and "Scotch-Irish", we can take pride in the fact that, although in our clan's history there were many bitter and bloody battles among the various branches of Clan Donald, rarely was religion or the artificial disctinction between Irish and Scottish the cause. There are many Irish Catholic, Irish Protestant, Scots Catholic and Scots Protestant M(a)cDonalds, M(a)cDonnells, and M(a)cDaniels. They are all , first and foremost, celtic Clan Donald.
The history of Clan Donald's stewardship as "Lords of the Isles", its rise to power in the 1200s and the forfeiture of the last remnant of that power in 1495, transcends specific individuals and even specific clans. The history of Clan Donald, more than that of any other clan, embodies the history of the Western Highlands 1200 - 1500: a threefold struggle between the Celts and Anglo-Saxons; between the Gaelic clan system and Teutonic feudalism, and between the semi-autonomous kingdom of the "Lords of the Isle" and the slow but inexorable growth in the might of the young but expansive Scottish state.
Even the celebrated (and somewhat overblown) rivalry between Clan Donald and Clan Campbell can be summarized within the context of these three struggles: Clan Donald desired to preserve the Gaelic system and the clan's independent kingdom; Clan Campbell, seeing the eventual domination of the Highlands by the Scottish state, sided with the state and took advantage of that allegiance to fill the power vacumn created by the destruction of the Lordship of the Isles. All the clans, even Clan Campbell, paid the price when England so brutally and decisively destroyed the entire clan system following the defeat at Culloden.
Clan Donald traces its origins to Somerled, an Irish/Norse
warrior who established a semi-autonomous kingdom in northern Ireland and
the western islands and highlands of what is now Scotland. His region of
rule was later called the "Lordship of the Isles". Somerled's
son, Reginald or Ranald, was given a portion of the kingdom upon his father's
death - Islay and Kintyre. It was his son, Donald, from whom we take our
name, "son of Donald".
Donald succeeded his father as Lord of the Isles in 1207. Unlike his father,
who was noted for his love of culture and peace, Donald was a brutual warrior.
So notorious were his deeds that, fearing for his immortal soul, he entered
on a pilgramage to Rome to seek forgiveness for his sins from the Pope.
From Donald came a long line of chiefs, some good, some bad, but all Macdonalds.
From "Ceannas Nan Gaidheal", The Headship of
the Gael:
"There are nine distinct branches of Clan Donald, all
descending from Donald son of Reginald son of Somerled, and of these seven
survive today. After the break up of the Lordship these branches continued
to function as independent clans, attached to particular territories and
upholding the traditions of Gaeldom. Within the main branches there were
further sub-divisions as land was given to younger sons. These are usually
referred to as the cadet families". This booklet is available from
the Clan Donald Lands Trust. Armadale Castle, Sleat, Isle of Skye, IV458RS,
Scotland.
My ancestor, Robert M(a)cDonald, emigrated from Northern Ireland in the early 1770s, fought in the Pennsyvlania Line in the Revolutionary War, and settled on his tract of Donation Land in Mercer County, Pa. He was Presbyterian. His grandson, Lemuel (my great-great grandfather), who had previously gone by "McDonald" , began emphasizing the use of "Mac"Donald rather than "Mc"Donald in the 1880s. After much research, it has become apparent that the family did so solely to distinguish themselves from the many Irish-Catholic McDonalds who had emigrated to this county in mid-century. It was plain and simple bigotry that caused this sudden concern with the spelling of my family's last name. I have a tape recording, made in the early 1960s, in which several ancient aunts of the family are expounding on how we MacDonalds were of Scotch-Irish origin. Besides being guilty of the vice of prejudice, the aunts were also guilty of assuming any M(a)cDonalds could be Scotch-Irish. We hold much more in common with our Irish-Catholic brother and sister McDonalds than we do with those commonly considered Scotch-Irish. Here follows a summary of notes taken from several sources:
HIGHLANDERS (which includes Clan Donald) VS. LOWLANDERS:
"Scotland is divided into two geographical units, known as the Highlands
and the Lowlands, marked by difference of race, religion, and customs, once
clearly defined and still observable. It is with the Lowland Scots that
we are chiefly concerned, since it was from this group that came the bulk
of the immigrants to Ulster. The Highlanders of Western Scotland and the
adjacent islands are largely of Celtic origin, and it appears that the Gaels
of the Highland clans were originally of the same Celtic stock as that of
the native Irish before the latter were conquered by England. But in the
Lowlands of Scotland conditions were different, this region being once a
part of Roman Britain and having a different racial composition. Unlike
the Highlander, the Lowland Scot is an amalgamation of Celts, Romans, Frisian,
Angles, Saxons, Danes, Norwegians, Normans, and Flemings, and is essentially
of the same stock as the Englishman immediately to the south of him ...
While a picturesque and valiant people, their [Highlanders] contribution
to the progress of civilization has been comparatively small; in fact, they
were 'but slowly and reluctantly subdued to civilization'". Dunaway
p. 14
[Scotch-Irish are considered to be almost exclusively Lowlanders who emigrated
to Ireland, from the Lowlands of Scotland, during the Plantation period]
"A few Highlanders drifted over into Northern Ireland, for the Western Isles and portions of Argyll are very near to Ulster. Their Gaelic language and sometimes their Catholicism made them more welcome than Lowland Scots to the native Irish. King James, however, had specifically excluded Highlanders from his design for the Plantation of Ulster: he wanted to civilize Ireland by settlers with British ways, not to confirm Irishmen in their intransigence. Highlanders, therefore, have no real place in the ancestry of the Scotch-Irish" Leyburn, p.xvii
"The intermarriage of the Irish with the Scots occurred more frequently before the 'Plantation' and was with the Scotch Highlanders and 'wild islanders'' a group of Scots who were [primarily] Catholics and were largely Celts ... The number of the early Highlanders who emigrated to Ireland was, however, relatively few and did not belong to the Ulster Scots of the Plantation .." Dunaway p. 11
M(a)cDONALDs and M(a)cDONNELLs in Northern Ireland:
"The northeastern part of County Antrim had long been occupied by the
MacDonnells, a Scottish clan ... The MacDonnells, who were Scotch Highlanders
and Catholics [most, but not all, were Catholic] ...Hence Counties Down
and Antrim were not included in the Great Plantation ..." Dunaway p.
17
"In 1771, when the leases on the large estate of the Marquis of Donegal
in county Antrim expired, the rents were so greatly advanced that scores
of tenants could not comply with the demands and so were evicted from farms
their families had long occupied. In the two years which followed the Antrim
evictions, thirty thousand Protestants left Ulster ..." Leyburn p.
173
ORIGIN of the phrase "Scotch-Irish":
"From the time of the Revolutionary War onward for a good part of a
century the appellation "Scotch-Irish" simply disappears from
the record. It is one of the principal contentions of the American Irish
that the term was revived and then enthusiastically adopted after 1850 solely
because of prejudice. The point seems well taken." Leyburn, p.331
"...not all the Scots in Ireland, or even in Ulster, were Presbyterians,
some being Baptists, Independents, Quakers, and Episcopalians." Dunaway
p. 25
SOURCES:
The Scotch-Irish, A Social History, by James G. Leyburn, 1962, The univ.
of North Carolina Press
The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania, by Wayland F. Dunaway , 1979,
Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., originally published, 1944, University
of North Carolina Press
Scotch-Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America, by Charles Knowles Bolton ,
reprinted by Heritage Books, Inc, 1989, originally published by by Bacon
and Brown, Boston, 1910
I include this because many Protestant members of Clan Donald, living in northern Ireland, would have emigrated with the Scotch-Irish. Thus, they would have followed similar settlement pattersn:
CENTRE: First settlers were predominantly Scotch-Irish from the Cumberland Valley, reded in the southern part of the county c1765 (then part of Cumberland County) and the northern part c1770. After the 1790, many Germans moved into the county.
CLEARFIELD: Predominantly Scotch-Irish and German. Eastern Clearfield County were settled from Centre County; southern and southeastern Clearfield County settled from Huntingdon County.
CLINTON: Settled in the 1760s by Scotch-Irish from southern Pa (the Carlisle area).
LYCOMING: The pioneers were primarily Scotch-Irish but by 1840 the county was very heterogeneous. Most of the Scotch-Irish setters came from the Cumberland Valley.
POTTER & McKEAN: Both had few Scotch-Irish settlers until the arrival of the Irish immigrants in 1840-1850. Both counties were primarily English.
BEAVER: Predominantly Scotch-Irish, settlement began in earnest in 1795.
BUTLER: settled mostly by Scotch-Irish from Westmoreland and Allegheny counties.
ARMSTRONG: Predominantly Scotch-Irish and German. Many settlers from Westmoreland Co.
INDIANA: mostly Scotch-Irish, many from the Cumberland Valley. The southern part of the county was settled first.
CAMBRIA: The Scotch-Irish settled only in the northern part of the county; most of the Scotch-Irish came directly from ni. The Scotch-Irish were always a minority in this county.
LAWRENCE: (part of Beaver and Mercer until 1850) Most of the Scotch-Irish who settled here came from Cumberland , Franklin, Westmoreland, Fayette and Washington counties with some form Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
MERCER: First settlements established in 1797. The Scotch-Irish settling around Mercer Borough in the early 1800s came from Westmoreland, Washington, and Allegheny counties.
CRAWFORD: Settled mostly by Scotch-Irish and the English.
ERIE: A Scotch-Irish majority until about 1805, with the early settlers coming from Dauphin, Cumberland, Lawrence and Northumberland counties. The Scotch-Irish were particularly populous around Mill Creek and Fairview townships.
WARREN: Although there were some Scotch-Irish early settlers, most were English from New York and New England.
VENANGO: first Scotch-Irish settlers congregated around Franklin in 1790.j
CLARION: Early Scotch-Irish pioneers were from Westmoreland, Fayette and Centre counties.
JEFFERSON: first group of Scotch-Irish settlers came from Dauphin County in 1797. Jefferson was predominantly Scotch-Irish.
CAMERON: Still frontier up to 1840s. One of the last counties settled, mostly by English from New York.
ELK: Still frontier up to 1840s. One of the last counties settled, mostly by English from New York.
FOREST: Still frontier up to 1840s. One of the last counties settled, mostly by English from New York.
JUNIATA: first settlers arrived c1750, locating in the Tuscarora Valley. Some early settlers were James and John Grey, George Woods, and Robert Innis.
SOMERSET: The only county in southwestern Pa in which the Scotch-Irish were in the minority. Somerset was a German county.
WESTMORELAND: The first settler, Andrew Byerly, came in 1759. The Germans settled in Hempfield and Huntingdon townships; the Scotch-Irish were in the majority in all other townships. Some Cumberland Valley settlers located north of the Conemaugh Creek.
FAYETTE: Only after the Revolutionary War did settlers from eastern Pa give the Scotch-Irish a majority of the population. Dunbar township was an early Scotch-Irish stronghold.
WASHINGTON: Settlement began in earnest around 1770. Beginning in 1773, the Scotch-Irish from the Cumberland Valley, Chester, Lancaster, York and Dauphin counties, and Northern Ireland, moved into the county. By 1790, Washington County was overwhelmingly Scotch-Irish and the most predominantly Scotch-Irish community in western Pa.
GREENE: The first settlers hailed from Maryland and Virginia. It was nearly entirely Scotch-Irish and English. Greene County was part of Washington County until 1796.
ALLEGHENY: Settlement began about 1770. Allegheny County settlers were mostly Scotch-Irish, from eastern Pennsylvanian Scotch-Irish communities, although the earliest settlers, those arriving before the Revolutionary war, were from Virginia. After the Revolutionary War, many Scotch-Irish came directly from ni and settled in Allegheny County.