MacThomas has always been the official name of the Clan as recorded in various acts of the Scottish Parliament and on clan maps.

 

To the Government in Edinburgh, the Clan was known as MacThomas and is so described in the Roll of the Clans in the Acts of the Scottish Parliament of 1587 and 1595 and MacThomas remains the official name of the Clan to this day.

 

There were a small number of MacThomases and MacComases (the Gaelic translation) living around the western end of Loch Tay in Perthshire in the early part of the 17th century. How they came to be there is not really surprising as the River Shee is a tributary of the Tay, which enabled these earlier migrants to make their way down to the Tay Valley from there upstream to Loch Tay.

 

Despite this small group, the Clan MacThomas is most unusual within Scotland because, unlike other Clans, the main name has only been used rarely over the centuries. This is because the early MacThomases preferred to be called by one or other of the Gaelic variations on the name. Also, when some clansmen decided to leave Glenshee and Glen Isla, following the break up of the Clan at the end of the 17th century, and move elsewhere, they generally adopted a variety of abbreviated anglicised versions.

 

This practice was considered normal in those days as the use of given names and surnames developed. On leaving the Highlands, the Chief's family changed their name to Thomas and then to Thoms for some five generations. They assumed the name MacThomas in the mid 20th century as a preliminary step to the family again being recognised by the Lyon Court after a gap of some two hundred year, as official Chiefs of the Clan MacThomas.