I thought people might like to know that copies of Key issues for a Clan Gunn history can be accessed at  - the British Library; the National Library of Scotland; the Department of History's library in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh; Wick Library; Caithness Family History Society's library; Timespan Museum's reference collection (Helmsdale); the Genealogical Society of Queensland; the Society of Australian Genealogists (New South Wales) and at the Genealogical Society of Victoria.

I will place further copies next year. I am very aware that Canada and the USA require texts in institutions similar to the above.

Patronymics 
Many Scottish surnames originated in patronymics, whereby a son’s surname derived from the father’s forename, e.g. John Donaldson’s son might be Peter Johnson, whose son might be Magnus Peterson, and so on. Patronymics present something of a challenge for the family historian in that the surname changed with each successive generation.  This practice died out in Lowland Scotland after the 15th century, as patronymic surnames became permanent family names. It persisted, however, in the Highlands & Islands well into the 18th century...[1]

[1] From Scotlands People http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/Content/Help/index.aspx?r=551&560 accessed 1 May 2014

We are meant to believe - according to Clan Gunn mythic history beloved by Clan Gunn Societies - that the surname Gunn originated from the Orkneys in the early 1200s and the surname directly flowed from one man when, according to the above, fixed patronymics basically did not exist in the Highlands and Islands till the 1700s.  Lord Lyon also states 'surnames were generally adopted in Scotland in the 17th century'  ('Coat of Arms and Crest Badges booklet' 2012).

The only sensible logic for the surname Gunn is that presented by Smibert. The  Clan Gunn Orkney origin non-link I have dealt with often on this site.

This is a fascinating book. I note pages 151-182 where Dr Coira discusses the poetry attached to Clann Leoid (MacLeods of Lewis, Dunvegan etc.) including their royal  Norwegian links. She makes clear in the book the importance of the poetry - seemingly all major families had 'poets' to write about them. The absence of Clan Gunn poems provides further support for the idea of the unimportance of the Clan Gunn when compared with the many other clans she discusses...


Dr Pia Coira has worked as a Teaching Fellow and as a  Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen.

Dr. M. P. Coira, By Poetic Authority; The Rhetoric of Panegyric in Gaelic Poetry of Scotland to c 1700, Dunedin Academic Press, 2012, Edinburgh.

The below was too nicely phrased to ignore -

Family history remains fantastically popular. A headcount would surely confirm that there are more genealogists than academic scholars afoot in Scotland's repositories and research libraries; and an impressive proportion of the works optimistically classified as 'Scottish history' by the bookshops turns out to be attempts to entice the budding family historian. This should not be entirely surprising, given the commercial capital now invested in Scottish kinship, fictitious and real: both tartan textile manufacturers and heritage tourism, to name just two profitable industries, derive obvious advantages from peddling the notion of meaningful blood ties between the now-scattered members of ancient Scottish dynasties.  But if such activities have formed an important part of the relentless romanticisation of the Scottish past, usually attributed by cynical cultural historians to the effects of nineteenth century Balmorality and the novels of Sir Walter Scott, then it is crucial to note that the desire to trumpet one's own breeding was neither a unique product of that age nor at any time a\ peculiarly Scottish affectation...

(footnotes left out)

Being the opening paragraph on page 147  of  'What's in a name?: Pedigree and Propaganda in Seventeenth-Century Scotland' an essay by David Allen - being Chapter 7 of Edward J Cowan (ed.) and Richard J Finlay (ed.) Scottish History - The Power of the Past, Edinburgh University Press, 2002.

David Allan was then a Lecturer in Scottish History at the Department of Scottish History at the University of St. Andrews.

I have had a Clan Gunn Pinterest small button link on the top right of the each website page here for some time; I have now added a Clan Gunn facebook button link. 

Neither will replace this site, but they can be a bit of fun and are useful for minor additions...

Below is the comment I made on my old blog -

The hits and audience for this blog show something tangible about the Scottish diaspora, especially to those with a Clan Gunn interest. (The 8 June 2014 figures for 17,500 hits are in brackets.) The top five countries are -

1. USA - 5,371 (4824)
2. UK - 3938 (3017)
3. Canada - 3629 (3509)
4. Australia - 1529 (1322)
5. Germany - 1158 (963)

The main change is that Canada, which was second, has changed places with the UK.  The USA dominance in Clan Gunn issues is obvious.

I thought I would repeat the entry as the history has significance beyond the old blog;  North American dominance in Clan Gunn matters is obvious. Australia barely rates above Germany....