Surnames, honestly

Search “what does my surname mean” and you’ll find kilt shops and clan-crest sellers happy to invent a heroic pedigree to sell you a scarf. This is the opposite: for each name, only what can be honestly said and sourced — its meaning, its clan and the country it comes from, and how common it is in America today.

A shared surname is not a shared bloodline.

Starting where the evidence is richest — 30 Scottish clan surnames. Irish, Welsh and English are next; each name is added only when the sources support it, never faked to fill a page.

• Armstrong Clan Armstrong · #213 in the US
• Bruce House of Bruce · #636 in the US
• Cameron Clan Cameron · #614 in the US
• Campbell Clan Campbell · #47 in the US
• Cunningham Clan Cunningham · #211 in the US
• Douglas Clan Douglas · #311 in the US
• Farquharson Clan Farquharson · #16,544 in the US
• Forbes Clan Forbes · #1,028 in the US
• Fraser Clan Fraser · #1,358 in the US
• Gordon Clan Gordon · #161 in the US
• Grant Clan Grant · #196 in the US
• Hay Clan Hay · #2,005 in the US
• Johnston Clan Johnstone · #225 in the US
• Kennedy Clan Kennedy · #146 in the US
• Kerr Clan Kerr · #771 in the US
• MacDonald Clan Donald · #143 in the US
• Mackay Clan Mackay · #895 in the US
• Mackenzie Clan Mackenzie · #563 in the US
• MacLeod Clan MacLeod · #1,141 in the US
• Maxwell Clan Maxwell · #490 in the US
• Menzies Clan Menzies · #14,468 in the US
• Munro Clan Munro · #5,067 in the US
• Murray Clan Murray · #136 in the US
• Robertson Clan Donnachaidh · #175 in the US
• Ross Clan Ross · #98 in the US
• Scott Clan Scott · #36 in the US
• Sinclair Clan Sinclair · #1,290 in the US
• Stewart Clan Stewart · #61 in the US
• Sutherland Clan Sutherland · #1,195 in the US
• Wallace Clan Wallace · #123 in the US

The rule throughout: a surname is a finding aid, not proof of descent — see the clan index and what DNA can and can’t tell you.