Clan Mackay Sept

**Sparky McFizzlenuts** · 14th June 17, 08:23 AM

Hey folks-

I am not sure anyone here can help me on this or not, but for a few years now I have been trying to figure out exactly how the surname "Pollard" became associated with Clan Mackay. I have found various sources that list them as either a sept (an ambiguous term I know) or as clansmen, even one site listing it as a spelling variation of Mackay while other sites do not list Pollard at all.

The Clan Mackay USA website (I am a member) has it listed as a "Clansmen Surname" with a post in their forum listing the name as being blood related to the chief. That same post states that no new names have been added to the rolls since the Battle of Culloden (which seems odd given the 19th century revival of all things highlanderish).

Here is where I am getting stuck - I have been unable to find any genealogical reference to a Mackay / Pollard connection or spelling variation of either name (keep in mind I am only using computer based resources as I am stateside and unable to do a full, paper based search).

Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas on how to establish a connection?

For reference here is the posting on the Clan Mackay USA website I am referring to above: http://www.network54.com/Forum/10631/message/1344566323

**Steve Ashton** · 14th June 17, 11:18 PM

The only way to know for sure is to do your genealogy and find out where in Scotland your people came from.

There is a common misconception that - If you are of Scottish descent you are pert of a Clan.

The truth is that the vast majority of Scots were not part of the Highland Clan system.

And this whole thing of septs is very vague. Each Clan chief can decide which people are part of his Clan and that may change over time. There is no single, authoritative Sept list. If you think of it, a Clan may have a valley as their area, but not everyone in that valley would have the same name. And someone with the same name could likely live somewhere else.

And please do not assume that the website or tent at a Highland Games are the actual Scottish clan. They may be and they may be a social society that has a website and publish a newsletter.

You may need to dig a little deeper into your history.

**ctbuchanan** · 15th June 17, 08:03 AM

That is a tough one. I do a lot of name research for our clansmen so I gave it a go.
The name Pollard appears to be almost entirely early English. One origin theory was a variation of the the medieval forename Paul (Poll) and Hard meaning brave or strong.
Here is a distribution map of the UK from the 1881 census. As you can see it is almost non existent in Scotland.

http://gbnames.publicprofiler.org/Ma...y=GB&type=name

This is not to say that they weren't there at all- just very few of them.

Good luck
CTB

**LKM** · 16th June 17, 08:27 PM

Last names often have multiple origins. On a quick search it looks like Pollard is most commonly from England, then from Cornwall, and even a few from Germany. Do you have some areas that you are stuck on your family tree that some of us can look into? Sometimes more then one set of eyes looking and checking sources could be a huge help. Sometimes there are dead ends where the records were lost or simple not kept. If you can find an ancestor on https://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/pollard/help you would have a huge clue as to where the family would be from.

**Me cousin Jack** · 17th June 17, 06:59 AM

I found one interesting reference to clan MacKay amongst my clans info on Septs.

If a family moved further away and found themselves in another Clans area, they could ask for protection from that Chief. If he accepted them, they became a Sept of his Clan and they gave their loyalty to this new Chief. Clan MacBean was known as an ever war like clan. They liked to fight. At one point there was a split in the Clan over the amount of fighting and some of the Clan moved to another area and became a Sept of Clan MacKay.