A sept is a
collection of people who hold the same surname, who are
descendants of the original person who took that
name.
Throughout the
centuries, there were several small migrations of people from
the Highlands of Scotland, but the coming of the Industrial
Revolution led to many people being drawn to the big Scottish
cities and from there a good number emigrated to Africa,
Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA as well as to
mainland Europe and other parts of the British Isles.
The range and
variety of names connected to Clan MacThomas come about
because people in early times were not able to read or write,
let alone spell. If your name, or that of your mother, is one
of the names shown in the box to the right, with the exception
of Thomas and Thomson, then there is a distinct likelihood
that your origins are Celtic and that your descendants came
from the counties of Perthshire and Angus (and later Fife,
Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire). The prefixes "Mc" and
"Mac" are interchangeable.
If your surname,
or that of your mother, is Thomas or Thomson, then there is
possibility that your forebears are Celtic, but further
research (see under Genealogy) will be required to establish
where they came from. If they are Scottish, not all will have
come from the above mentioned counties in Eastern
Scotland.
Here are a number of pointers which
may be of assistance in determining whether you are a
MacThomas and eligible to apply for membership of the Clan
Society:
MacOmie is only a slightly different version
of McComie (from the Gaelic MacThomaidh).
MacOmish and McComish, similarly, are one and
the same.
McCombie, Comb(i)e, McComb, McCombe (again all
from the Gaelic MacThomaidh) are descendants of migrants who
left Glenshee during the 2nd half of the 18th century and
settled in Aberdeenshire and Kincardineshire.
Thom is the most usual of the MacThomas names.
Tam is the most frequent variation.
Thoms is peculiar to the area around Dundee in
Angus.
The name McColm, as a result of a very early
migration, has been in Galloway in south-west Scotland for
over 500 years.
Thomas is usually thought of as a Welsh name,
but there are some Scots called Thomas, although not all
will be MacThomases as Thomas is claimed also by some other
clans.
Thomson is a very popular name in Scotland.
Many Thomsons come from Argyll in the west of Scotland and
are likely to be originally MacTavishes, some are from the
Borders Region with England and are not affiliated to a
Highland Clan. Only those people whose ancestors come from
the counties in Eastern Scotland mentioned above are likely
to be MacThomases.
Thompson is not a MacThomas sept name as it
thought to be predominately English.
Names similar to several of the MacThomas sept
names such Tomas, Thomasson, Thomsen etc are amongst the
most popular in parts of mainland Europe such as Sweden,
Norway, Denmark, Germany, France and Spain etc and are not
Scottish.
Please click here to read
an article by the Clan Sennachie about spelling
variations
More information about each of the Clan MacThomas Sept names can be accessed by clicking here.
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The Clan Society
can assist those interested in tracing their ancestry and much
more information about all the Clan sept names is in “The History of the Clan
MacThomas”.
