Cowden or Choille-dun surname

[celticpride]

i was looking to see if anyone had information on the surname Cowden? i have done alot of research on the name a anglicized version of Coldin and have found that the ancient spelling is Choille-dun a gaelic word for Caledonia as well. a long time ago a history teacher in scotland with the same name told me that the name was pictish in origin from the kinross area which made me research cowden placenames within that vicinity. what i found is that the name cowden is used in over a dozen places in scotland concentrated mostly in areas that were consider areas populated by the caledonii tribes, there is also a mt. colden on isle of mann. i am not sure what to make of this information. also in my research my ancestor that left from scotland to ireland was a MacCowden but cannot find any reference to any MacCowdens in scotland but have found passenger list with them arriving in canada, australia, and america with MacColden,MacCowden, and MacCowdin. could someone help me make sense of his information.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

"Cowden" as I understand it refers to the Hazel tree. You might want to check out the Cowdenknowes web site for a bit more info.

[celticpride]

i have read once too that it refers to hazel tree the gaelic word calltuinn. but have found that to be incorrect, calltuinn anglicised would be more acceptable as colton another placename. as i said before the original spelling of cowden would have been coldin a anglicised version of choille-dun (history of stirlingshire) meaning wooded hill. i have looked on many cowdenknowes websites but alot of the information refers to the ballad or the place itself. what i was interested in was the family, it seems at one time they were a large borderer clan but there isnt much information other than them leaving there name throughout scotland. i do appreciate the recommendation but if anyone else has any info or theories feel free to respond.