The Clan Gunn

[neloon]

In all of his, we have to go back hundreds of years to a time of very low levels of literacy in 2 or 3 co-existing languages none of which had a standard orthography. So "Sven" was sometimes "Sveinn","Sweyne" etc. and could be readily confused with Scots Gaelic "soighainn" meaning "pleasant" (and which in Irish Gaelic is usually spelled "suibhne"). So "Son of Sven" might be "Svensen" (Swanson) or "MacSh?einn" (no "v" or "w" in Gaelic orthography) but which would have sounded (Macqueen) pretty much like "MacShoighainn" = son of the pleasant one.
On top of this, these names were not at that time surnames but patronymics. So, if someone called Calum had a father called Donald, then he was Calum MacDonald but that did not make him part of Clan Donald even though a (later) surname interpretation of any written document might make it seem so.
Maybe you Gunn-Macqueens should just go with whichever clan motto you prefer!
Gunn = "Peace or war!"
Macqueen = "Constant and faithful"
Alan

[Stitchwiz]

Your right. Maybe they were just a large family at one point? I truly did not mean so say that a Swan are both Gunn and MacQueen together, I just meant to say that both claim Swan as a sept. Who knows!?! Your way is better, 'or' would have been better. There is and never has been a Clan Swan. My mistake.

That link is what brought me to XMTS in the first place, when I was running around the internet Googling my last name. I guess we all just want to belong?

Emboldening added

Well Heather, you certainly belong here. Glad to have you with us.

Just remember that friends are the family you have chosen for yourself.

Smooth sailing, my friend.

[MacRob]

Here is some news in which all Gunns should be interested:

"On December 22, 2014 Lyon Morrow accepted the Petition and appointed John Malden Esq, Unicorn Pursuivant to supervise a Convention and report his findings to him. It has now been decided that the Convention will be held at the Ayre Hotel in Kirkwall, Orkney on Saturday 18th July 2015 at 2 pm., to coincide with the start of the International Gathering of the Clan, when all those who signed the Petition, plus Michael J Gunn and AlastairJ Gunn, will be invited to attend."

This may result in our Commander of over 40 years, Iain Alexander Gunn of Banniskirk, being recommended to become chief. There is no guaranty of that, of course, as this is a proceeding which will be monitored by The Lyon Court and any actions must be ratified by the Lyon Court. However, it is the first time in several years that any movement on the chiefship seems imminent.