McMickin

[Kate]

My family of Ulster Scots has the name McSkimming and other various spellings, too numerous to count. You sound like a "queer Mac" like me.

The name can be traced to Galloway.

An extract from "In Scotland Again" H.V. Morton p.26 & 27. a book once owned by John McSkimming. (b.1878).

"The meaning of Galloway is the 'Land of the Stranger Gaels'. It comes from all, a stranger and Gaidhel, the Gaels and it is interesting to find that these queer Macs or stranger Gaels still exist in great numbers in the local phone directory.



McCLUMPHA McCRINDLE McMEEKING McSKIMMING

McCUTCHEON McFADZEAN McQUAKER McHAFFIE

McKEAND McMIKEN McCUBBIN McDAVID

McWHIRTER McHARRIE


These names, many of which suggest the queer Macs that occurred in Ireland during the Irishing of the Normans go right back into Galloway history and their owners are as justly proud of them as more normal clansmen. The ancestry of the Galloway men is, therefore a long and honoured one, and I creep through the little stone towns gazing with awe and respect at the names of the strange Macs. Who knows what improbable things lie in the race memory of this people. If the recipe for heather ale exists, it may lie lost in the subconscious mind of someone called McSKIMMING."