The McDonald Name

The name McDonald is a patronymic name with it's origins in the ancient highlands of Scotland. The prefix "Mc" is derived from the original Scottish "Mac," and literally means "son of the father." Simply translated McDonald means "the Son of Donald." The name's original derivation is traceable into Celtic antiquity, in the 500's, with the original Gaelic being "Mac Dhamhnuill."

The first Scottish MacDonalds were the people of the Clan Donald, rulers of the ancient western isles of Scotland. It was one of the largest, oldest and most widely known clans in all the Highlands. The clan took it's name from Donald, the grandson of Somerled, the Lord of the Isles, who was the historical founder of the Family of the Isles. Somerled, Donald's grandfather, was half Gaelic and half Norse, a Scottish king and a powerful ruler of the Western Isles in the 1200's.

The old Clan MacDonald tartan (7kb) is blue, green, black and red. The McDonald coat of arms is a gold shield with a black galley with a red eagle on its chest. It's crest is an arm holding a cross. Of the family motto, there are two. One is "My hope is constant in Thee." The other, more of a battle cry, "Per mare per terras" meaning literally, "By sea and by land."

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