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

[Heather]

Someone has got to have a logical answer to this one

When using any last name that involved "Mac" .. as an example MacDuck. Some opt to leave
the letter a on the same lower horizontal level as the other letters. By times, I see signatures
where the letter a is elavated above the line. Cannot type this on my keyboard ( Is there a Scottish
language keyboard >> ?? )

Does anyone know if there is a meaning behind the elavated letter a ?

Heather

[AndrewP]

Hi Heather,

As in M^acDuck. I don't know of any difference between M^acDuck and MacDuck, other than the writing style.

Superscript and subscript features and buttons now added on the posting page.
x²+y²=r²; Cu + 2H₂SO₄ = CuSO₄ + SO₂ + 2H₂O

All the best,

AndrewP

[Grendlsmother]

We are McC and my grandmother always elevated the first "c" but no-one else in the family does. See where it says "super" on the toolbar above. Highlight the letter(s) you want to elevate and then click on that. M^cC

[Grendlsmother]

I should have said, the toolbar you see when you are typing a message or a reply.

[AndrewP]

To be fair, the super button was not there earlier when Heather posted her message. It has been added in the last few minutes.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Heather]

Hi again,

I think my post was a little confusing (but I really appreciate the "super" script .. I just need to figure out how
to use it).

What I was wondering is there any meaning behind elevating it or not elevating it ? ie .. did the wealthy elevate and the poor leave the "a" down ?

Heather

[Russell]

Hi Heather

I don't think there was ANY convention at all and everything depended on the whim of the person transcribing the name. Keep in mind that some of the older certificates we see have not been written/signed by the people concerned but were transcripts by the Registrar from an original entry so that the record could be sent away to Register House. If he,(the Registrar) thought that it should be superscript then that is how it would be written.
I have noticed that many of the older (early to mid 1800's) books, which were often written by the clergy, have M' Duck rather than Mac or M^cDuck. I think that this convention may actually stem from the printer's shop rather than the original manuscript.
I have a marriage certificate where the Registrar has written the bride's name one way, her brother(her witness) a different way, her father's name is different spelling and her mother's name different again. totally confusing but probably written by a bi-lingual Gaelic/English speaker and an arbitrary interpretation as he saw it.

The variety of spellings and styles has led to some delightful (hilarious !) transcriptions on Ancestry.com.

Russell

[WilmaM]

I don't think there is any great meaning to it other than different styles of handwriting .

Personally I would raise the c in McKay but not in MacKenzie - if I was handwriting a name, not on the computer.

I think that's because it's the way my Mum addressed envelopes rather than any other reason. Plus it does look much nicer when using calligraphy

And sadly there isn't such a thing as A Scottish keyboard, our High school only have American ones so looking for a £ or € is murder polis

[marilyn morning]

Hi Heather,

Here's a link for some International Keyboard codes to use with Windows.

http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/inte ... deint.html

Regards
Marilyn

[SarahND]

And sadly there isn't such a thing as A Scottish keyboard, our High school only have American ones so looking for a £ or € is murder polis

£££££ €€€€€ My American keyboard has no trouble with these! £ is <option> 3 and € is <shift-option> 2
I would have thought you would have those confusing European keyboards where you can't find the @ -- drive me insane, those!

Or maybe I'm just thinking of Mac vs. PC keyboards

Regards,
Sarah