The Meiklejohn Name

THE MEIKLEJOHN NAME

Meiklejohn as a name was interchangeable with other spellings – Mucklejohn, Mickeljohn, Meikeljohn, Mieklejohn, Miekeljohn, Mikeljohn etc.

The ‘Ancestry’ website states that in Scottish Meiklejohn is a distinguishing name of the largest or eldest of two or more bearers of the personal name John. ‘Mickle’ is the shortened form of McMickle which is a variant of McMichael. It is also the nickname for a big man – in Older Scots – meikle, mekill, ‘great’, ‘large’ or in old Norse – ‘mikill’.

The 1946 publication – ‘The Surnames of Scotland, their origins, meaning and history’ – author George Fraser Black – has the origin of the name Meikejohn as follows –

The McIlwhoms were a Sept of the Lamond (Lamont) Clan.

The name McIlwhom was Scottized as Meiklham, Meikleham, & Meiklem etc.

McIlwhom was also McIlwham, McIlkwhan, McIlquaham

Following the Campbells laying siege to the Lamont land in 1646 and a resulting massacre saw clan members move elsewhere within Scotland with many changing their names to reduce identification with the clan.

In Scotland Meiklejohns are found around Fyfe and Lanarkshire and in the Highland regions of Thurso, Wick and Caithness amongst other locations.

 Clan affiliations –

Cordelia’s grandmother was Catherine Anne Douglas of Douglas Castle in Scotland and thereby her and her family etc are linked to the Douglas Clan.

The Meiklejohn is listed as a Sept of the Lamont Clan who were based in the Western Highlands around Argyllshire. The Lamonts trace their origins back to migration of Celts from Ireland.

The Scottish Register of Tartans shows a Meiklejohn tartan having a design date of 1 May 2006 – see STWR 3175.

 Other Meiklejohn groupings exist in Australia and New Zealand –

a) The Southland Meiklejohns – an Alexander Meiklejohn arrived in Invercargill NZ in 1864 – his parents lived in Dunbeath Scotland.

b) The descendants of a Donald Meiklejohn who was born at Caithness and settled in Morpeth, New South Wales in the mid 1800s.

No connection to these families is apparent at the present time.

Researched by Des Meiklejohn