Location-based surnames
Many of the first permanent surnames are territorial in origin, as landowners became known by the name of the lands that they held, derives from the barony of ...in the parish of .... Tenants might in turn assume, or be given, the name of their landlord, despite having no kinship with him. Such as the name of a farm, town, region, or country, or it may be a description of a place based on some topographical feature, such as a mill, bridge, lake, or the like. Locative bynames using the names of places are toponymic while locative bynames using descriptions of places are topographic. A toponymic byname indicates a named place. This may be the name of the place a person comes from, the place they live now, or the land they hold. When it is the land they (or their family) hold, it is a territorial byname. What appear to be fixed inherited surnames (that is, surnames inherited unchanged from father to child) first show up in Scottish charters in the 12th century, among some Scoto-Norman nobles. They were of territorial origin, and were not particularly common. A relational byname indicates a relative of the person with the byname. The most common kind of relational byname is the patronymic, which names the person's father. Most, but not all, Scottish naming cultures used patronymic bynames. Another kind of relational byname is the metronymic (also known as the matronymic), which names the person's mother. Some, but not all, Scottish naming cultures occasionally used metronymics. Occasionally some Scottish naming cultures used relational bynames that indicated other kinds of relatives, such as uncles or spouses. There were many families where each individual family member had a different byname. Fixed, inherited surnames developed in some (but not all) Scottish naming cultures in the late medieval period out of earlier personal bynames. In which time period fixed, inherited surnames developed varied not only by the naming culture but also by social class and type of originating personal bynames within that naming culture.
Occupational Surnames
Patronymics
Many Scottish surnames originated in patronymics, whereby a son's surname derived from the father's forename, Patronymics present something of a challenge for the family historian in that the surname changed with each successive generation. This practice died out in Lowland Scotland after the 15th century, as patronymic surnames became permanent family names. It persisted, however, in the Highlands & Islands well into the 18th century (Mac surnames) and in the Northern Isles until the 19th century.
O never took root in the Isle of Mann, but Mac has left numerous traces of its existence
Mac Surnames Some Mac surnames originated in occupations. Others derive from distinguishing features. Yet others contain vestiges of Norse influence since the Mac prefix was not the exclusive preserve of the Gaels, being adopted in some cases by the Norsemen and by some Lowland Scots, particularly on the Highland periphery. Many Mac surnames are no longer in use, abandoned because they were too difficult to pronounce, corrupted over the years by phonetic spelling, or anglicised. Mac surnames were also written as Mc, Mhic, or M' Mc/Mac surnames are indexed separately in the database, but it is very common to find the same person's surname registered as Mc in one record and Mac in another.
Clan-based surnames Some clans were originally founded on feudal tenure e.g. after being awarded lands by Robert the Bruce, the Gordons acquired further territory in the North-east to become lords of Badenoch and are said to have greatly increased their “clan” following by offering a “bow’ o’ meal” to anyone willing to join them and adopt the name. The Menzies were originally an Anglo-Norman family who also established their clan in the Central Highlands on a feudal power base. It is a common misconception that those who bear a clan surname are automatically descended from a clan chief. The Scottish Highland clan system incorporated the Celtic / Norse traditions of heritage as well as Norman Feudal society. Chieftains and petty kings under the suzerainty of a High King ruled Gaelic Alba, with all such offices being filled through election by an assembly. Usually the candidate was nominated by the current office holder on the approach of death, and his heir-elect was known as the tanist, from the Gaelic tanaiste, or second, with the system being known as tanistry. This system combined a hereditary element with the consent of those ruled, and while the succession in clans later followed the feudal rule of primogeniture, the concept of authority coming from the clan continued. Thus the collective heritage of the clan, the duthchas, gave the right to settle the land to which the chiefs and leading gentry provided protection and authority as trustees for the people. This was combined with the complementary concept of oighreachd where the chieftain's authority came from charters granted by the feudal Scottish crown, where individual heritage was warranted. While duthchas held precedence in the medieval period, the balance shifted as Scots law became increasingly important in shaping the structure of clanship.
To-names
To-names or T-names meaning “other names” or nicknames, were prevalent particularly in the fishing communities of North East Scotland, but were also seen in the Borders and to a lesser extent in the West Highlands.
Personal By-Names
The final consideration when it comes to Scottish names is that medieval Scots, like other medieval Europeans, did "translate", or more accurately, transform names & bynames, to varying degrees, when writing (and presumably speaking) in a different language. Given this tendency to transform names & bynames, it becomes significant, when examining the available period examples of Gaelic names & bynames, that the vast majority of documents in medieval Scotland were written in Latin and Scots, not in Gaelic. Most of the Gaelic name & byname examples we have are from Scots and Latin documents, and so were written using Scots and Latin spelling rules, not Gaelic spelling rules The clerks writing these names & bynames were rarely Gaelic speakers themselves, and so were writing down what they thought they heard, as opposed to what the actual name & byname may have been.This is very like what happened to people's names when they arrived on Ellis Island from Europe, and ended up with Anglicized surnames based on how the clerks there mangled up the original surname. This means how the actual owners of these names & bynames pronounced them may not be how they appear in the Scots and Latin documents