The changes which have taken place in respect to the boundaries of Caithness and Sutherland house, and the quarto of Mr Robert Mackay of Thurso on his own sept, are only too diffuse and lengthy to serve conveniently for sources of reference. The earliest member of the Mackay house of note was undoubtedly Angus Dhu or Dow, son or grandson of Iye, the presumed founder of the clan name. These names are all forms of MacKay and are descended from Martin, grandson of Alexander, progenitor of the MacKays. William Makke was witness in Stone in 1491, Lang McKe was put in the stocks in Wigton in 1513. The mid-Galloway MacKies were a rich and powerful family in the 16th century and supported the Covenanters.
Associated names have a hazy history.
Even the spelling of surnames was subject to great variations, shifting fromusually Latin or Gaelic and heeding rarely to consistent spelling. In early records there can be several spellings of the same name. Undoubtedly contributing to this inconsistency is the lhandwriting in official records, which was often open to more than one spelling interpretation. It wasn't long before it was abbreviated to 'Mc' or just M. until we have reached the position now where there are more Mc's than Mac's. This society does not profess to be an authority on the origin of surnames as our main interest lies in the tracing of particular ancestral lines.