Quote Originally Posted by davedove View Post
That would be the most important consideration. Looking at the name Wilson, it would seem to me that it would derive from "Will's son" so the original nameholder was a man who was the son of someone named Will or William. This could come from anywhere.

Region would be key.
Awhile back someone started this interesting thread which linked to a name mapper site. What I saw there was pretty consistent with my research, as far as narrowing down to the general western lowland area, but included Ayrshire, Dumfries, Galloway, & the Borders.

My imagination was captured by the mention of Archibald Wilson being a weaver, with a possible link to Stirlingshire (Port of Monteith is now considered Stirlingshire, rather than Perthshire as listed in the old records).
But it is only now imaginary, until I can break through my brick wall.