The Mary Rose McLean Historical Blog

History of the name McLean

Maryrose — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:16:20 +0000

If someone were looking for the ancestry of Mary Rose McLean, the first stop on the quest would be the mountainous west coast of Scotland. This is where the McLean family history began.

In original Gaelic, McLean is translated as ‘Mac Gille Eoin’ which means ‘son of the servant of St. John’. It is one of the oldest known clans from the Scottish highlands. The ancient family creed is ‘Virtue, Mine, Honour’. If Mary Rose McLean were to look far enough back, she would find that the McLean family can trace its Scottish roots back over one thousand years to an ancestor, the famed historical warrior Gillian. Remembered as ‘Gillian of the battleaxe’, he was named Gilleathain na Tuaidh.

Two of Gillian’s descendants and famous members of the McLean clan were the brothers Eachan and Lachlan Reaganach. It was over five centuries ago that each of them would marry into the wealthiest and most powerful dynasties in the region.

Eachan married into the family of the ‘1st Lord of the Isles’ where he was given vast amounts of land by his new in-laws. Creating a small dynasty of his own, Eachan’s lands and family became one of the two branches of the McLean clan. They would be known as McLean of Duart.

Lachlan married the daughter of the Earl of Argyle. History tells that Lachlan became so angry at his wife one day, he left her stranded on a rock at sea to die. Fortunately, she was rescued by fishermen. Once she told of her account, Lachlan was stabbed to death by his wife’s family.

It was also this time that the McLean clan allied with its in-laws, the Campbells. Together, they would wage war against their rivals of the MacDonald clan, one of the most powerful families in Scotland. By the eighteenth century, the MacDonalds had taken possession of virtually all of the McLean estates and fortunes. In 1911, the original castle at Duart was restored to the McLean family.

The McLean clan was also remembered for their bravery at historic battles such as the Battle of Sterling Bridge and alongside Robert the Bruce in the Battle of Bannockburn where the outnumbered Scots defeated the mighty English army. As Mary Rose McLean would say, “Virtue, Mine, Honour.”

History of the Surname McClean

Maryrose — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:30:57 +0000

He was a warlord descended from the royal Cenel Loairn. There are many legends surrounding Gillean, however, it should be noted that the majority of these legends are false. The two main branches of the clan of McLean were both founded on the island of Mull, and include MacLean of Duart, and Maclaine of Lochbuie.

The name McLean is an Anglican version of the surname’s original Gaelic MacGilleEathain. Translated this means “servant of St. John”. The name McLean is widely reported throughout Ireland and Scotland and there is documentation that states they were a clan of Jacobites and fought fiercely in all the Jacobite wars.
The clan of McLean is descended from the 5th century king of Dal Riata known as Loarn mac Eirc. Not only did the clan have many notable members who were fierce warriors, but they were also renowned for their knowledge of the sea, and had a vast collection of sea going vessels which were used in the battles against the Viking raiders in the 9th century.

There are many variations of the spelling of McLean including MacLean, MacLaine, MacClaine, and many others. A search of the surname McLean turns up many legends and stories, along with a mass of names such as Mary-Rose McLean. The clan began immigrating to America and Canada in the 17th century, although the majority immigrated between the 18th and 19th centuries. Some notable McLean’s even came to fight in the American War of Independence.

The ancestry of the surname of McLean is not hard to find, with many legends and stories being recorded along with ancestry and lineage. Names of interest to the clan of McLean include Mary Rose McLean, Andrew McLean, Catharine McLean, and Lettice McLean among others. Many ongoing family trees exist on several ancestry websites searching for descendants and relatives of the McLean clan. Search Mary-Rose McLean or Mary Rose McLean.

The McLean clan motto is “Virtue Mine Honor”, which translated means, “my virtue is my honor”. The coat of arms features a hand holding a Celtic cross representing their loyalty to St. John, a depiction of the western Hebrides Mountains where the clan stems from, and a sailing vessel acknowledging their extensive sea going knowledge, among other images also depicting their craft on the sea.

Celts Throughout History

Maryrose — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:29:35 +0000

When people think of the Celts, they typically think of Scottish lasses with names like Mary Rose McLean. Yet, while the Celts have called Britain and Ireland home for over 2,500 years, their history goes back much further. An Irish tradition holds that the Celts originated in Spain, and new DNA research appears to confirm this fact. As we’ll see, the Celts were more widespread than is generally believed, and the influence of Celtic culture remains in countries in Europe and around the world. Every Mary-Rose McLean should be aware of this heritage. The Celts’ connection to Spain would seem to date back to the last ice age, when Spain was a refuge for Europeans fleeing the advancing polar ice caps. While the Celts headed for Britain in about 600 B.C., the Basques remained in their Spanish homeland, and the comparison of the two peoples’ DNA has revealed that they were once closely related, if not a single group. The Basques are believed to be descended from the original Europeans, sometimes known as the Cro-Magnon, who left so much of their cave art in Spain and southern France. It is not clear whether the Celts came from the same stock or had arrived in Spain as ice-age latecomers. When the Celts finally left the Iberian peninsula, they settled not only the British Isles but France and northern Italy, as well. In fact, it was a tribe of these northern Italian Celts who first sacked Rome in the 4th century B.C. Interestingly, when the Romans invaded Britain in the 1st century B.C., they found that the Celts in France, or Gaul, as it was then called, were still able to communicate with the Celts in Britain without the need for an interpreter. More recently, Celts who had been driven back by the invading Anglo-Saxons left southwestern England for France and gave the region they settled the name Brittany. Today, Celts can be found all over the world, but particularly in countries that were once British colonies. The United States, for example, is home to millions of Irish, while Canada has been settled by Scottish with names like Mary Rose McLean, sometimes spelled Mary-Rose McLean and, of course, the French. For thousands of years, the Celts have been wanderers, and they’re showing no signs of changing.