Anothers tartan

[Phil]

However, I would point out that there is no "Clan Thompson" per se.

There is a clan MacThomas, however.



Wonder if there is a connection?

[David Thorpe]

There is a clan MacThomas, however.
Wonder if there is a connection?

Clan MacThomas is a different clan altogether and from a different area.

[Nathan]

Clan MacThomas is a different clan altogether and from a different area.

But just to complicate matters, as I understand it, there are some Thompsons who are part of Clan MacTavish, some that are part of Clan Campbell (A certain Mr. Thompson is very active in the local Clan Campbell society here), and some that are part of Clan MacThomas.

We have Thompson as a family name, one of my brothers is named for that connection, but we don't know which Thompsons they are...

[David Thorpe]

But just to complicate matters, as I understand it, there are some Thompsons who are part of Clan MacTavish, some that are part of Clan Campbell (A certain Mr. Thompson is very active in the local Clan Campbell society here), and some that are part of Clan MacThomas.

We have Thompson as a family name, one of my brothers is named for that connection, but we don't know which Thompsons they are...

It is complicated indeed. Serious genealogy is required by Thompsons to determine the origin of their particular family's origin. To further complicate matters, the Thompson association claims descent either from Dunardry or the lowland border revier country depending on who is asking.

[ThistleDown]

There is a clan MacThomas, however.



Wonder if there is a connection?

Phil, there are no "Thompsons" among the Clan MacThomas. The clan is descended of a 14C illegitimate son of William 2nd of Mackintosh through Big Adam of Garvamore at the southern tip of Clan Chattan territory. By the latter half of the 15C the family was large enough in numbers to be considered a distinct clan under Thomas, their then patriarch. Like his great- or great-great grandfather, Thomas was a big man and took the name Tomaidh Mor. The MacThomases left Badenoch sometime between 1464 and 1496 and settled beside the River Shee in what is now Perthshire. That's where you found the sign.

MacThomas obviously translates to Thomson and shortened forms Thom and Thoms. No 'p' exists in any Mackintosh, MacThomas or Farquharson documents. The name MacThomaidh, however, is pronounced MacHomy and was often simplified to the phonetic form, MacComie, so among the MacThomas records there are found names like Combe, Combie, McColm, McComas, MacComb and MacComish.

There is no connection between the Clan MacThomas in Glen Shee and Glen Isla, one of the nine tribes of Mackintosh, and the Lowland and English families of Thompson, or the MacTavishes of Argyll other than the fact that they all originated in the name Thomas.