Scottish Tribes of Jewish Origin???[More about Moir]
Vondo...@aol.com
farm...@interfold.com writes:
> We believe that many persons surnamed Moore, Muir, Morea
> > and Moorhead, received those names as a result of immigrating
> > to Britain from the Mediterranean, where Moro meant dark or
> > swarthy. Many were likely Sephardic Jews. They may also have
> > been Moors (i.e., Muslims) from Spain who left during the
> > Inquisition. '
> >
> > Mór [Gaelic] means great, large, big &c., having nothing to
> > do with coloration. There were many families in Scotland named
> > Mure or Muir in the 13th century; there is also the well-known
> > Malcolm III, king of Scots, aka Máel Coluim Ceannmor [or Malcolm
> > 'Canmore'], who died in 1093, well before any possible emigration
> > from Spain ca. 1492. Perhaps if the 'researchers' involved
> > could find that one document naming him as Malcolm mac Schwartz...>>>
I concur about the word mor [Gaelic]:
The Moir Family is Prominent in Aberdeen
Moir is from the Gaelic mòir, meaning "big." The surname is prominent in
Aberdeen, where it is pronounced More (also an early spelling of the name). The
Irish form is Moran.
The Moirs are associated with the Gordon Clan. The Gordons were an
Anglo-Norman family and they had lands in Berwickshire by the 12th century. Adam Gordon
was a follower of John, the Red Comyn. When Robert the Bruce killed Comyn,
Adam Gordon then supported him and Robert made him an ambassador to the Pope in
1320, and gave him ythe old MacDuff lands at Strathbogie in Aberdeenshire,
where the Huntley Castle stands.Some think that Muir and Moir are connected. Muir
is from the Gaelic mordha meaning "majestic." Muir also means moor or
wasteland, which seems to contradict "majestic." Muir is one of the ten most prominent
names in Orkney.
Moran is the anglicization of two distinct Irish names, O'Mòran, from mòr and
O'Mughrdin. O'Mòrain is first found in Mayo County, near the modern town of
Ballina, where the eponymous (giving one's name to a clan) ancestor Mòran held
power.Robertus
More was an Aberdeen burgess in 1317. Reginald More was a canon of Aderdeen
in 1366. The name of the family of Moir of Stonywood was in the eighteenth
century spelled Moer, More, and Moore.In Fairbairn's Crests of the Families of
Great Britian and Ireland there are the following references:
1. MOIRS WITH THE NEGRO"S HEAD INCLUDE:
.....Moir (Scottish) a negro's head Motto is: Non sibi, sed cunctis (Not just
for self, but for all).
.....Moir (Scottish) a negro's head, couped, proper. Motto: Mediocriter (with
moderation) or Sur experance (upon hope).
.....Moir (Scottish) a Mauritanian's head, couped, proper. Motto: Major opima
feret (Let the worthier carry off the prize).
.....Moir (Scottish) a Mauritanian's head couped (gutee-de-sang/gules,
proper). Motto: Major opima feret (Let the worthier carry off the prize).
.....Moir of Otterburn has argent, three Moors heads couped proper without a
bordure counter-undented sable and or.
.....Moir of Stonniwood has argent three Mauritanian heads: copued and
distilling guttes-de-sang/gules.
2. Robert-Graham Moir, Esquire of Lockie, Scotland, a falcon,proper., armed
and belled, or perching on a heron, lying on its back, proper, beaked, and
membered, gules
Motto: Ne oublie.
3. Moir (Scottish), out of a cloud, ar arm, from shoulder, in hand a branch
of laurel, slipped.
Motto: Virtute non aliter (by virtue, not otherwise).
4. Moir (Scottish), a mort-head, with two legbones , in saltier proper.
Motto: Non sibi, sed cunctia (For all, not himself).
This one would resemble the "Jolly Rodgers" or pirate flag. The Jolly
Rodgers also has significance as a Knight's Templar symbol. Many legends point to
the Knights Templar in Scotland.
My own Moir connection:
GENERATION ONE:
John Clark and Isobel Moir were the parents of George Clark, who was
christened on February 2, 1801 in Udny, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
HERALDIC COLORS:
Or=gold (or yellow)
argent=silver (or white)
gules=red
vert=green
azure=blue
purpure=purple
sable=black
What is interesting is that the origin of many heraldric charges comes from
the Saracens and the Moors. For example, gules comes from the Persian gul, and
azure comes from the Persian lazurd.
The Mures of Caldwell were said to be descended from Reginald More, or Mure,
of Abercorn and Cowdams. Sir Reginald was Chamberlain of Scotland as early as
1329, in the first year of David II.
The arms of Muir of Caldwell and Muir of Rowallen were the two chief houses
of the name in Scotland. Emblazoned in 1540.
Caldwell: three muletts on a bend
Rowallen ate quatered the wheatsheaves of the Comyns.
The most ancient of the names was recorded as the Mores of Polkelly near
Kilmarnock in Ayr County.
The male line of Polkelly left no heirs, thus the heir was passed, by
marriage, to the Mores of Rowallan, who acquired their estate from the Lords Comyns.
Margaret Sypniewska
http://www.geocities.com/auch2000/Moir.html
(this site has the heraldic crests shown)
Terry
quartered with the Comyn arms, is that they are a variant of the Morey/Murry
arms, I have wondered if this family is not an alternate spelling of that
name.
Terry
Vondo...@aol.com
te...@mairsphotography.com writes:
> One thing I do find interesting is that the Mure arms, before they where
> quartered with the Comyn arms, is that they are a variant of the Morey/Murry
>
> arms, I have wondered if this family is not an alternate spelling of that
> name.
> Terry
>
According to Black's _Surnames of Scotland_ Murrie/Murry is a Perthshire
surname and a form of Murray. Same with the name Murie.
In _The Book of Irish Families, Great and Small_ it states that Murray ranks
among the top ten names in all of Ireland. Murry in common in Dublin,
Ireland. From the Gaelic: O Muireadhaigh, Mac Giolla Mhuire, Murry, Kilmurray,
Murrihy, McMury, etc. O'Muireadhaigh is centered in Ballymurry, in the barony of
Athlone, County Roscommon. MacMurry were chiefs in Loghmoyltagh.
Maggie
Terry
James Dempster
Some of the Scots Murrays are of course of Flemish origin from various
land grants made in the 12th century, especially in the region of
Moray. Freskin "the Fleming" aka Freskin de Moravia was the founder of
what is now the ducal house of Atholl.
Other Murrays may well have the modern surname Murray on the basis of
a similar derivation of the Irish surnames.
Use of three stars in Scottish heraldry is often based on Flemish
ancestry. I have described the origin of the Murrays (Azure three
stars Argent) above. The Inneses (Argent three stars Azure) descend
from Berowald the Fleming who was granted the lands of Innes in Moray
and the Sutherlands (Gules three stars Or) are a junior branch of the
de Moravias. Both differenced their arms by means of a colour change.
Whether the Douglas stars (used by some branches but not others) came
from their descent from the same group or can solely be due to their
inheritance of the de Moravia fief of Bothwell is a matter of debate.
What is worth remembering is that arms that are a pun on a surname are
generally newer than the surname.
James
James Dempster (remove nospam to reply by email)
You know you've had a good night
when you wake up
and someone's outlining you in chalk.
Alex Maxwell Findlater
> from their descent from the same group or can solely be due to their
> inheritance of the de Moravia fief of Bothwell is a matter of debate.
>
The Douglas chief of three stars is first known in 1296 from the seal
of Sir William de Douglas "le Hardi", which is a detached seal from
the Ragman Roll. The alliance with the Murrays of Bothwell was not
until 23 July 1362, the date of the marriage of Joanna the heiress to
Archibald Douglas, Lord of Galloway, later to become 3rd Earl of
Douglas.
Early Douglas charters relate that Sir William Lord of Douglas, fl
1250 & d 1276, was the nephew of Bricius Bishop of Moray. Other early
Douglases were officers of the crown in Moray. Bricius is called
avunculus in the charter, not patruus, but avunculus at that period
was used for an uncle on either side, while patruus could never be
anything but a father's brother. For this reason Douglas in his
peerage thought that Bricius was a mother's brother, but this seems
improbable to me, bearing in mind the strong association with Moray
after the acquisition of the fief of Douglas, which I would suggest
was most probably acquired by marriage, as indeed are all the best
things in life.
a.m...@share.epsb.ca
If you believe this email violates Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation
(CASL), please contact us
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSemiJbGqN-4ClXBDKPoRp4-EKTswV5sSzp-KE6ff9LW64IMiA/viewform?usp=sf_link>.
Edmonton Public Schools, Centre for Education, 1 Kingsway NW, Edmonton AB
T5H 4G9
