Macdougall

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A Scottish surname and the name of a Highland clan descended from Dugall, a son of Somerled
2. A family name of Scottish origin, borne by a Highland clan traditionally linked to the Lord of Lorn
3. The surname of Scottish origin shared by a Highland clan whose ancestry traces back to the twelfth century

Etymology: MacDougall is a Scottish surname meaning "son of Dugald," from Gaelic "Mac Dhùghaill." "Mac" means "son of," and "Dùghall" (Dugald) combines "dubh" (dark) with a second element often rendered as "gall" (foreigner or stranger), so the name is usually glossed as "dark stranger." Dugald was a personal name in medieval Gaelic Scotland, and surnames built on "Mac" plus a forename became common across the Highlands and Western Isles as clan and family names took fixed form. The clan's name is tied to the Lords of Lorn, in the western Highlands, whose line descended from a Dugald. Surnames of this kind were not fixed in spelling for centuries, which is why the same family appears in records as MacDougall, McDougall, or MacDowell. The "Mac" prefix is the same element found in many other Scottish and Irish surnames, and the spelling variants reflect differing scribal and anglicized forms rather than separate origins.