Historical Roots of the Murdoch surname

"There is no present or historical reality which can allocate large numbers of Murdochs to the Clans Macdonald and MacPherson.  ....  I believe most Murdochs' roots lie with Norse settlers."

Traditional Scottish Names...

Surnames as we know them only came into the Highlands later than the rest of Scotland when practice began for people to adopt their Clan name as a surname. Clan names appeared earlier in the 12-13thC when the social structure of Highlands became, like much of the rest of Western Europe, influenced by Norman fuedal laws and practices. Highland landowners, many of them actually Anglo-Norman and originally given their status and lands for supporting the Monarch, would sometimes adopt a name Mac (son of) some-great-ancestor-of-long-ago. Later on the entire Clan (a group of families related by blood) would take this as a surname. So in the end they were all 'sons'.

Many Clan names however are less Gaelic and come from their Norman roots eg. Bruce. In lowland Scotland surnames are much like the rest of Europe originating either from the place where the person lived or signifying their roll in society or occupation.

Clan is an interesting word. It comes from the Gaelic clann which had the original meaning 'shoot', as in 'young branch or sprout'. It came to mean 'offspring of', in a human sense. It has the same Indo-European root as the Latin planta which of course gave rise to the English 'plant'. Gaelic is Q-celtic as opposed to P-celtic which linguistically is closer to Latin, thus the 'c' instead of 'p'.

Legally Clan was used in the 14thC to describe a group of kinsmen occupying land to which they might even lack a true title. Within the hybrid Norman/Celtic Highland Social System, Clan came to mean 'under the same chief'.

Origins for surname Murdoch....

There are 4 possible roots for the surname Murdoch, some more plausible than others. Like the majority of Scots, most Murdochs are unlikely to originate from a purely tartan kilted Highland Clan origin:
 

	1.		Norse origins. Around the beginning of the 9thC, much of Scotland (like the rest of Western Europe) was attacked by Scandinavians or Vikings. In Scotland's case they were from Norway. At first it was effectively pirate raids on the coast but with growing populations and land shortages in Scandinavia, settlers soon followed. Parts of Scotland became part of Norway and Norse displaced Gaelic: Hebrides, Caithness, Orkney and Shetland. In two other areas: Galloway and Moray/Banff large numbers of Norse are known to have settled. They intermarried with Gaels and in Galloway became the firely independent Gallgaels. Gaelic remained the language as Gaels probably outnumbered Norse in these areas. Those among these societies who had Norse ancestry might well have been known as murchadh - sea warriors. To this date the statistical evidence clearly shows the largest concentrations of Murdochs, relative to other surnames, lie in these two areas. My own believe is that this is where most Murdochs come from. My own Murdoch ancestry can be traced back to Galloway and I assume somewhere, a thousand and more years ago my roots lie with a Norse warrior who settled to become a farmer among the Gaels.
	2.		From trade associated with the sea. There is possibly also a more modern derivation of the name which should be considered. In its original, muireach - mariner, some people may have adopted Murdoch as a surname because of their trade associated with the sea. While this might be true, evidence does point away from it. While as a first name Murdoch can occur anywhere it is not a surname found around the entire Scottish Gaelic speaking coast. It is a coastal surname of the SW and Moray only. While Murdoch has a 'sea' meaning in Gaelic there appears to be no such meaning in the Scots language. Most Murdochs probably come from Galloway in SW Scotland where Gaelic ceased to be widely spoken much earlier than the Central Highlands. It seems to me more probably that the surname came about for reasons of past history and ancestry rather than employment as the word murdoch doesn't appear in Scots.
	3.		The Murdochs with Clan MacPherson association took the name as son of Mhuirich the Parson (12thC), literally Mac Pherson. In this they where MacPhersons but stating it in another way. The Murdochs are said tend to be on the fringes of the MacPherson lands raising the possiblity that the Murdochs adopted the name to join the MacPherson Clan and thus gain protection. MacPherson roots lie on the west coast around present day Fort William which explains why they later used the forename Mhuirich (the seaman) when they lived far from the sea. While Clan members were obviously blood related by intermarriage as time passed, it is also apparent that migrations took place, new lands were take over (presumably including many existing inhabitants) and groups joined other Clans for political reasons. What is important is that a Clan felt a common bond of kinship and as in any warrior, Clan based culture put loyalty to the Clan and Chief above all else.
	4.		Murdochs of the Southern Isles Another possiblity which has been put to me is that Murdochs of the Southern Isles claim to be 'sons' of the great Muiredach O Daly (1180 - 1222 ) of the Clan Donald. O Daly was a great bard who had trained in Ireland. The Donald Clan can claim to be different from many other Clans in that it's power and authority predated the hybrid Celtic/Norman Fuedal system. Their place in Scotland goes back to a much more ancient time beyond the realms of documented history and into the Celtic Mythology which Scots share with Ireland. O Daly's own ancestors included the ancient Irish Royals - the legendary Conn of the Battles, 110th King of Ireland (~177), Caibre Liffechar 117th King of Ireland founder of the Dalriada, Nial Mhor 126th King and Muireadach, King of Aileach (d 480)! Many Gaelic poems can attributed to Muiredach O Daly. He settled in Islay at the court of the Donalds in 1213 after being forced, for his own safety, out of Ireland after an unfortunate incident with a member of powerful O Donnel family. O Daly in alleged to have almost split the man in two with a battle axe after rent was demanded of him! So widespread and appreciated were his works that the title - Muiredach Albanach - was bestowed upon him. In the later part of his life, O Daly is said to have gone on a Pilgrimage to Rome. But now the bombshell .... Those of the surname Currie can show that the soft or even silent 'mh' was anglicised to'c' and that their roots lie in the Southern Isles and that the paragraphs above concern their ancestors. They consider the inhabitants of Dun Mhurrich in Loch Sween to be their forefathers. (Ref. With Sword and Harp, Clan Mhurrich (Currie), The Warrior Poets by WM Currie of Balilone FSA published in 1977 by Heatherbank Press, Milngavie.) There is considerable doubt about any Murdoch roots in the Southern Isles!

Murdoch Coat of Arms from Ireland.

A word about Ireland...

In Ireland the original root words murchadh & muireach evolved into their own Anglicised forms with one regional exception in north Connacht. Murdochs of Ireland are mainly from the later Ulster Plantation of around 1610 when Scottish Protestants were moved to Ulster. These Murdochs from SW Scotland were by then no longer living as Gaelic Clansmen but were Scots Protestants deemed suitable candidates to replace and act as a buffer with their Gael Cousins.

So conclusions...

In recent times Murdochs tend to be linked to the Clans Macdonald and MacPherson. The surname often being described as a 'sept' or associated name. But given the below average occurence of the name relative to other surnames in the 'old Clan' areas of Macdonald and MacPherson - the origin for most people who adopted the Murdoch surname probably does not lie with these clans. Some Murdochs may have origins with the Clans Macdonald and MacPherson. However the tendancy in most books on the subject to always associate all Murdochs in such a way does not stand investigation. In fact it probably has come about because of the Victorian obsession with categorizing their world where everything had to be neatly pigeon-holed. Further, those allocating Scottish Surnames to be Septs of various major Clans may not have been Gaelic speaker, they may have confused the use forename and surname making major assumptions based on modern and anglicised spellings. There is no present or historical reality which can allocate large numbers of Murdochs to the Clans Macdonald and MacPherson.

The very definite concentrations of Murdoch in Galloway and Moray/Banff, appears to come from 'folk memory' within a once Gaelic speaking society that those individuals had Norse blood in their veins dating back to the 9thC Norse settlers. I believe most Murdochs' roots lie with these Norse settlements.

Most Murdochs probably share no common ancestry whatsoever with either Clans Macdonald and MacPherson - only a very small number may! Unless you can trace ancestry specifically back to either the southern Isles or to the Newtonmore area (and I've never heard of anyone who has) you are almost certainly a Murdoch with some Norse ancestry from Galloway or Moray/Banff and have no affiliation to either of these Clans.