From Gaelic 'ail', rock or from the Norman French name Alan Alanus, brother of Galfridus Redberd was a witness in Perth in 1219. Thomas Ailen lived in Jedburgh in 1641. The Sutherland 'MacAllans', son of Allan are really Mackays. The MacAllan is a patronymic so possibly the original Allan was a progenitor of the Mackay clan.
