Mac with the "a" up in the air or on the ground ?

[LesleyB]

Hi Sarah

I would have thought you would have those confusing European keyboards where you can't find the @ -- drive me insane, those!

As far as I remember it is a swap over between the key which types 2 and " at the top left, and the other key which types @ and ' in the middle row, right side on a UK keyboard, but the other way around on a US one.

best wishes
Lesley

[trish1]

I first ran into the missing @ in Japan - during a stopover was trying to send an email home. Took me a few minutes (and much weeping and impolite language) to be able to key an email address!

Back on topic (almost), I often wonder if there are rules related to the first letter after the Mc or Mac - ie Macarthur or MacArthur. I notice ancestry seems to have a rule that always capitalises same - it makes for a few strange looking words at times.

Trish

[emanday]

I don't think there is any hard and fast rule about the superscript "c" against the normal way.

One of our teachers insisted on using it, while most of the others pretty much used the standard.

I think it was down to personal choice.

[Currie]

Hello Trish,

Here’s a few scraps regarding the use of the capital within the word. Sounds like a case of whatever you reckon’s a fair thing.

From http://www.electricscotland.com/webclan ... ftains.htm
The orthographic convention used throughout in relation to the Mac. Mc. Is to use the correct Anglicising of "Mhic" in the form of "Mac". I also intend to standardise the names using the convention of the patronimic commencing as a capital letter, for example "Mcdonald or Macdonald" will be shown throughout as " MacDonald ", " MacIntyre ", " MacPherson ", etc. This does not imply any criticism of other spelling variants as right or wrong but the normal use is at least to accord the patronimic name with a capital letter as being more courteous to the addressee.
(Notice the spellchecker capitalisation of ‘is’ after the first ‘Mc.’, maybe Microsoft could resolve all these issues for us.)

From http://www.cimcom.ca/genealogy/macname.htm
As for the word following "Mac", the rule generally given is that when it is a proper name it should be spelled with a capital letter, otherwise a small letter should be used, as MacDonald, MacDougall. According to this rule, such names as MacGregor, MacKenzie, should be spelled with a capital letter, as Donald, Dougall, Gregor and Kenzie (used for Kennith), are proper names, while names like MacIntosh and MacPherson would be spelled with a small letter. The rule appears logical enough, and certainly no one can say that a MacPherson, for instance, who spells his or her name "Macpherson" is wrong. At the same time it is very desirable that there should be uniformity in spelling, and therefore it is best, if the practice can be justified, to use the capital letter even when the word following the "Mac" is not a proper name.
( Also see ‘Perspectives on the subject from other readers’.)

Some people can get upset about websites that don’t allow what they see as the correct spelling of their name but that’s not a problem on TS.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16369501675

All the best,
Alan

[emanday]

When I first started doing my Scottish family research this Mc / Mac thing caused me no end of problems trying to find my grandmother's birth entry.

She vehemently insisted on the use of MacDonald throughout her adult life. Only when a member helped me out by using the wildcard M*c did it turn out that she had been registered as McDonald by her father who also signed with this version. Further research revealed that my grandmother was the only member of her family, going back many generations, to ever insert the "a". All three of her sisters used Mc.

Her reasoning? Wha kens? Maybe she thought Mac was posher! Unfortunately, my sister got it as her middle name, and very proud of her MacDonald heritage she is too! I've never had the heart to tell her

[SarahND]

Hi Alan,

From http://www.cimcom.ca/genealogy/macname.htm
As for the word following "Mac", the rule generally given is that when it is a proper name it should be spelled with a capital letter, otherwise a small letter should be used, as MacDonald, MacDougall. According to this rule, such names as MacGregor, MacKenzie, should be spelled with a capital letter, as Donald, Dougall, Gregor and Kenzie (used for Kennith), are proper names, while names like MacIntosh and MacPherson would be spelled with a small letter.

What bothers me about this is the assumption that people, in this day and age, actually know whether the part of the name after "M(a)c" is or ever was a proper name or not and will think about this before writing the name... Sounds unlikely, somehow. A quick google told me that pherson was a parson and intosh was chieftain but--maybe it's the cynical former professor in me-- I would be extremely surprised if anyone not personally interested in the name would even bother checking...

Regards,
Sarah

[trish1]

Some people can get upset about websites that don’t allow what they see as the correct spelling of their name but that’s not a problem on TS.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16369501675

All the best,
Alan

I knew there was a reason why I don't do "facebook" - most unfair to my Scottish origins. I guess I will probably stay with the old spelling option - "Does it look right" when deciding whether or not to capitalise after the Mc Mac. That rule got me through the odd spelling test at school.

Trish

[Pandabean]

Im a M^cDonald, but to be honest it doesn't really bother me. I sign my name with an upper c. As for the Mc/Mac thing being a McDonald and doing research on them especially in Glasgow is a bit of a nightmare as I am sure some of you can imagine. Luckily the majority of my McDonalds have been spelled without the a.

I read somewhere that there was a reason for the Mc and Mac seperation, but it could just be a myth.

[ninatoo]

I have read that Mc is from Scotland and Mac is from Ireland....now since I have many examples in my tree to dispute that, I don't believe that there would be segregation by spelling according to nationality....or is it really true?

(I have to add that I have mostly seen that kind of explanation on sites such as Ancestry, from people who have ancestors from Ireland and Scotland from many generations ago, and I have to think "Well, how would they know?")

A simpler explanation for Mac or Mc may be that whomever recorded it spelled it that way due to their own personal preference (or knowledge of how the name was spelled, right or wrong).

So, I just take it as it comes and record it as it was on the record I found it on...and add variations when I find them, too.

I haven't ever seen Mac written up in the air though!

Nina