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Re: questions on 2 surnames (read at your peril)
in reply to a message by Lethe
The association of Kerr with cearr 'left-handed' is considered to be a 'legend', as you can see at http://www.ancestry.co.uk/facts/Kerr-family-history.ashx. There is no mention of any such association in Black's The Surnames of Scotland' which is the authority on the subject of Scottish family names.M(a)c Ginley is derived from Fionn+ghal whereas Fingal comes from Fionn+ghall, and the difference between the second roots indicates that one comes from gal 'valor' and the other from gall 'foreigner' (previously Northman, Dane). It's the same principle as English 'gal' and 'gall'.
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Sorry, I'm bad at wording things but I'll have another go.I know the Kerr left handed is supposed to be a legend, but the point I was trying to make is that they have houses with left handed turnpike stairs, suggesting they might have been, or at least one or a few were left handed and they played on it since, as I said it puts your right handed enemy at a disadvantage. Left handedness is distinguishing enough to be worthy of epithet, there is an infamous Scottish soldier who was known as Colkitto or Col Ciotach, also meaning left handed, a name which apparently he inherited from his father. Really my question could have been worded, what is the evidence that Kerr could not have come from Cearr in at least one case?I understnad the difference between gal and gall, My confusion with McGinlay came from the fact that it's a patronymic meaning son of Fionnghal, yet apparently this first name Fionnghal has disappeared, leaving only it's simlar counterpart Fionnghall and its anglicised form. Is it not likely that the two similar names have been confused into the one anglicised form?
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All I can tell you is that I've looked at every creditable source I can think of for evidence of the possibilities you raise and I haven't found any.
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Left-handedness was a common trait among the Kerrs of the Anglo-Scots border. That is why the staircases in their peel towers ran counter to the usual construction, to give the advantage to a left-handed swordsman descending the stairs. The expression Kerr-handed results from the association of left-handedness with that clan. So the expression derives from an existing surname.
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