| Mackay Associated Names - Associated names have a hazy history. Sometimes they had more than one origin: also clouding the precise location of a particular surname might be that name's proscription or, of course, a migrant population. Even the spelling of surnames was subject to great variations, shifting from usually 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 handwriting in official records, which was often open to more than one spelling interpretation.
With regard to the 'Mac' prefix, this was, of course, from the Gaelic meaning, 'son of'. It wasn't long before it was abbreviated to 'Mc' or 'M', until we have reached the position now where there are more 'Mc's' than 'Mac's'.
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