This is an anglicisation of MacDonald
that has been in use in Scotland, particularly
Edinburgh, from the fourteenth century. In Ulster
it is most common in Co. Antrim and to a lesser extent
Co. Armagh.
Fairly early on the clan name of the great
MacDonalds, Lords of the Isles, began to be spelt in a
variety of ways, including Donaldson, Donillson and
Donnelson, forms recorded in old charters of the
MacDonnells of Antrim (from whom the present Earl of
Antrim descends). In the 'census' of 1659
Donnellson appears as a 'principal name' in Co. Antrim
(see Connell, MacDonald and MacDonnell).
Around 1900 Donaldson was being used interchangeably
with Donnelly (see Donnelly) in parts of the Coleraine
district of Co. Derry.
GLOSSARY
Clan
From the Gaelic
clann which means literally 'children'.
Mac-
From the Gaelic
mac, meaning 'son'
O'
From the Gaelic
Ó, meaning 'grandson', 'grandchild' or
'descendant'; Ní is the femine form of Ó,
meaning 'daughter' or 'descendant'
Plantation (Ulster)
The
redistribution of escheated lands after the
defeat of the Ulster Gaelic lords and the 'Flight
of the Earls' in 1607. Only counties
Donegal, Derry, Tyrone, Armagh, Fermanagh and
Cavan were actually 'planted', portions of land
there being distributed to English and Scottish
families on their lands and for the building of
bawns.
Sept
A family group of
shared ancestry living in the same locality
Undertakers
Powerful English
or Scottish landowners who undertook the
plantation of British settlers on the lands they
were granted.
Gaelic
This word in
Ireland has no relation to Scotland. As a
noun it is used to denote the Irish language, as
an adjective to denote native Irish as opposed to
Norman or English origin.
Erenagh
From the Irish
Gaelic airchinneach, meaning 'hereditary steward
of church lands'. A family would hold the
ecclesiastical office and the right to the church
or monastery lands, the incumbent at any one time
being the erenagh.
