Talk:Matheson (surname)

Gaelic
To be clear. The word itself is derived from a form of Matthew. The family which originally bore (a form of) Mac Mhathghamhuin, the "northern Mathesons" or Clan Matheson, adopted forms of Matheson as their surname. The late 19th century historians Alexander Mackenzie and Alexander Macbain noted how some members of the clan once erroneously thought that Mathghamhuin was a Gaelic form of Matthew, and that's why members of the clan bore English names which meant "son of Matthew" (for example "Mathewsone" recorded in the 17th century). Mackenzie and Macbain state that the English name was adopted by the clan because it sounded similar to the Gaelic name.

The surname Matheson is thus not derived from Gaelic - it was only adopted by a family who used it as an English form of their native name. There's a difference.

Mackenzie and Macbain state that Walter Bower and John Fordun recorded a 15th century chief of the clan as 'Mackmaken' (I'm not certain if that's an exact quote though). I suspect the clan might have adopted forms of Matheson sometime in the 17th century - like the how the Skye Nicolsons, the Lismore Livingstones, and perhaps the Lewis Morrisons adopted English names. I haven't been able to find any good source which documents the evolution of names borne by Clan Matheson though.--Brianann MacAmhlaidh (talk) 07:18, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

To be clear, my objection is the conflation of meaning and etymology or derivation of "Matheson". The fact is that today it can mean either and I am not aware of any study comparing the relative numbers of people who claim Matheson or Matthewson decent. It would be like saying "gay" means "happy" and a subsidiary meaning is "homosexual". I note the assertion in one source (although ancestry.com is hidden behind a paywall it would appear so neither I nor the majority of people can access it) that, basically, in all cases those associated with the clan had their Anglicised names derived from a name derived from Son of Matthew rather than a homonym to the way they pronounced it. A suggestion maybe but unlikely to be empirically verifiable. Other authors expressly refute that and suggest that MacMath, MacMathain etc derive from the same root rather than Matthew. Again a definitive answer is inherently unlikey (especially in a culture where oral rather than written tradition held sway) even if we had a great deal more by way of written records so the terms used ought to be more circumspect rather than definitive. When I posted what I considered to be a more balanced account with a further source it was simply deleted hence the ping pong undos of the last wee while. I will post a further attempt at the weekend when I have time to consider its wording. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.254.147.156 (talk) 09:16, 25 July 2012 (UTC)


 * The Ancestry.com pages cite: Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4. For ease, I'll quote them here for you. The page for Matheson gives: "patronymic from a short form of Matthew". The page for McMath gives: "Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Matha, a patronymic from a Scottish Gaelic form of Matthew". The Dictionary of American Family Names should be a good source, since it's published by OUP. Black's Surnames of Scotland is certainly considered a good source for Scottish surnames. Likewise, Reaney's English Surnames should be a good one, as it's published by OUP and it cited a fair amount according to GoogleScholar. I suppose Macbain and Mackenzie are the weakest sources, just because of their age. But basically they say the exact same as the previous sources, so I've used them here.


 * This Wikipedia article is about the surname Matheson: so it makes sense to start off with the word-origin of the name and early forms of it. The article then notes that bearers of at least two different Gaelic surnames have (at some point) adopted Matheson as their own. The article gives the etymologies for these two Gaelic surnames, and one reason for the adoption of the English name. If we can find a good source that gives a time frame of when the shift occurred, that'd be great. Or if we could find one that gives another specific reason why the English name was adopted, that'd be good too. But if you continue to delete referenced content you'll end up blocked.--Brianann MacAmhlaidh (talk) 05:13, 26 July 2012 (UTC)


 * This source isn't published, so maybe we shouldn't use it for the article, but it's hosted on the website of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and appears to have been compiled by a faculty member there, so I think it is worth noting here: . It gives five different ways to render the English Matheson into modern Scottish Gaelic: MacMhatha, MacMhathain, Mathanach, Matharnach, and Matasan. It notes that Matheson is rendered MacMhatha in the south; that Matheson is rendered MacMhathain, Mathanach, and Matasan in the north; and that Matheson is rendered Matharnach in Wester Ross.


 * Black and Macbain/Mackenzie noted that the southern Mathesons were not only unrelated to the northern bunch, but that their original Gaelic surname was totally different and derived from a Gaelic form of Matthew. The northern Mathesons, aka Clan Matheson, derive their Gaelic surname from a Gaelic name meaning "bear" (bear translates into modern Scottish Gaelic as mathan and math-ghamhainn). So far so good. I have no idea why Mathesons in Wester Ross can be singled out though; I wonder if it's just a regional dialect thing.--Brianann MacAmhlaidh (talk) 06:55, 26 July 2012 (UTC)