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Just trying to find out the history of McLeish Surname I am hoping someone can tell me where the McLeish clan came from before they came to Scotland ?
Thank you
Marjorie

Joan
Thank you for your help .
Best Regards
Marjorie

nudge

nudge

The strength of the clan
Even though Scots have dispersed throughout the world, on the whole they have a great sense of belonging. This is not just a sense of belonging to a nation, but belonging to a clan. The clan is at the heart of the cohesion of the Scottish Diaspora.
The origin of the word clan is the Gaelic 'clann' meaning children, offspring, descendents. In the 12th and 13th centuries the concept of clan grew beyond immediate family to cover an extended network of people who had loyalties to a particular chief. Many clans originated from the Vikings or Normans as well as the Celts or, interestingly, through links with ancient monastic houses – the descendents of lay abbots.
The clan system and the wearing of tartan evolved and thrived for over five hundred years but was dismantled after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. However, all was not lost and within 100 years Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's love of the Highlands and Highland culture led effectively to the beginnings of a clan revival.
Though the traditional clan system was never re-instated, the lasting values of loyalty and companionship lived on and still have their place today. Clan affiliation continues around the world and there is huge interest in clan societies which seek to promote the history and comradeship associated with the clan name. And while few chiefs still live on their ancestral homelands or even in Scotland itself, they are still recognised by their clan members as the head of a family that, in many instances, stretches around the world and to which many still desire to belong.
Clan/Family Histories
- Macpherson

Dating from the time of the Celtic church, the name Macpherson is from the Gaelic "Mac-a Phearsain" meaning "son of the parson" in the days when celibacy of the priesthood was not enforced. The clan originated in Lochaber but Robert the Bruce gave them land in Badenoch as thanks for their assistance in defeating the Comyns (or Cummings). The clan later acquired land in Strathisla. The clan was part of the confederation of Clan Chattan. Indeed, Muriach, a main ancestor of Macphersons, was chief of the Clan Chattan in the 12th century. The Macphersons and the Mackintoshes were frequent rivals for the leadership of the Clan Chattan. As there would be other parsons in Scotland, the name is also found in other parts of the country (but in smaller numbers).
Tradition has it that the Macpherson who first obtained the Badenoch lands had three sons and the Macphersons are sometimes called the "Clan of the Three Brothers"
Macphersons were always fierce supporters of the monarch and fought with Montrose in the Civil War (1642-49). Euan Macpherson of Cluny (the line recognised as the chiefs of the clan) was a valiant leader of 600 members of the clan during the 1745 Jacobite Uprising and defeated a larger force at Clifton Moor in Westmorland during the retreat from Derby. Cluny Castle was burned in 1746 by Hanoverian forces (but rebuilt in 1784). Euan evaded capture for nearly ten years after Culloden but eventually escaped to France.
James Macpherson (1736-96) from Kingussie perpetrated the literary fraud of the "Ossian Verses" in which he claimed to have found a large number of lost Gaelic verses of the 3rd century by "Ossian" (most of which he had written himself). Even so, the "Works of Ossian" gave a stimulus to the Romantic movement in Scotland.
The Macpherson estate at Cluny was bankrupt by the end of the 19th century. In recent years clan members have purchased the main relics of the clan and these are the basis of a clan museum at Newtonmore, which opened in 1952.
The Macpherson clan motto is "Touch not the cat but a glove".
Surnames regarded as septs (sub-branch) of the Macpherson clan include Carson, Cattanach, Clark, Clarke, Clarkson, Clerk, Cluny, Ferson, Gillespie, Gillies, Goudie, Gow, Lees, MacCunn, MacCurrach, MacFall, MacGowan, MacKeith, MacLeish, MacMurdo, MacMurdoch, Murdoch, Pearson, Smith.

SURNAME MEANING

McLEISH: Patronymic meaning Servant of Jesus. From the Gaelic Mc Gille Iosa

Various Surname Spelling:
MacLeish, McCleish, McLeish, Macleash, McLeesh, McLeech, these are from the as early as the 1700’s

TRADITIONAL NAMING PATTERNS

Scots often name their children by following a simple set of rules:

1st son named after father’s father
2nd son named after mother’s father
3rd son named after father
1st daughter named after mother’s mother
2nd daughter named after father’s mother
3rd daughter named after mother

Although this was not universally applied (some families adhered strictly others “dabbled” and still other’s ignored it) it can still be very helpful

Thank you for sharing this with me O:)

This Scottish surname of McLEISH is a shortened form of Mac Gill Iosa 'the son of the servant of Jesus'. In 1542 the name appears as MAKEIS. Early records of the name mention MALLEIS McCOLLEIS, who was fined in North Perthshire for reset of Clan Gregor. Duncan M'COLEIS in Muyeirnolycht was one of the laird of Glenurquhay's vassals in 1638. Alba, the country which became Scotland, was once shared by four races; the Picts who controlled most of the land north of the Central Belt; the Britons, who had their capital at Dumbarton and held sway over the south west, including modern Cumbria; the Angles, who were Germanic in origin and annexed much of the Eastern Borders in the seventh century, and the Scots. The latter came to Alba from the north of Ireland late in the 5th century to establish a colony in present day Argyll, which they named Dalriada, after their homeland. The Latin name SCOTTI simply means a Gaelic speaker. Later instances of the name mention Margaret McLISS who appears in Fortingall in 1683, and Mary McLISE was recorded in Coustone, Cowal in 1762. Many factors contributed to the establishment of a surname system. For generations after the Norman Conquest of 1066 a very few dynasts and magnates passed on hereditary surnames, but most of the population, with a wide choice of first-names out of Celtic, Old English, Norman and Latin, avoided ambiguity without the need for a second name. As society became more stabilized, there was property to leave in wills, the towns and villages grew and the labels that had served to distinguish a handful of folk in a friendly village were not adequate for a teeming slum where perhaps most of the householders were engaged in the same monotonous trade, so not even their occupations could distinguish them, and some first names were gaining a tiresome popularity, especially Thomas after 1170. The hereditary principle in surnames gained currency first in the South, and the poorer folk were slower to apply it. By the 14th century however, most of the population had acquired a second name.

Thank you Anne :)

“Ancestral Voices - The story of the Mcleish Name” is now available from Amazon