Great minds think alike, eh TT ? In any event, historically !
You gotta wonder when my last name (Dunbar)with the suffix of "bar" - current meaning to ban or prevent contact, and back then - illegitimate son of (family name)(bar) - to bannish or bar from the family of origin.
It'd be downright depressing, except for the extensive research, however biased LOL, by my uncle, who found so many Dunbars to be proud of.
In any event, to at least admire the magnitude of the Dunbar and many other clans of Scots' exploits. They defended their harassed and (worse) families by bopping the Brits on the head with various crude devices to make 'em stop extortion-based taxation.
Also, to make Scotland a sovereign nation, not run by the ruthless, expansionistic King of England at the time.
All in good fun. truly, so many variations exist on any given name, the most consistent thing I have found in my less than erudite research has been the plaids, er.. tartans. The wide variety, for diferent purposes for any one given name, is mentioned in only a minority of treatise on the subject for a clan name.
Too many of the sites are oriented to selling tartan fabric, and family name acoutrements, and therefore, it would appear, the depth of their research displayed corresponds suspiciously with the depth and breadth of the merchandise ! Ah well, I'll be the first to admit as a Scot, I am indeed a penny-pincher !
It would appear that the horse thief part of my family name ( no doubt black-sheep offshoots) has gradually come close to successive reduction subject to Avagadro's number in the gene pool.
Evidence being, I actually paid $5k for the last horse I bought my wife. Honest and on the barrel-head. What sense of family history is that ? LOL
One last thought - with what John turned up on Lightfoot, I think of what may just be coincidence in Gordon's childhood history - I remember reading he excelled in track and field in High School- perhaps truly a "Light" [or swift of] foot ! Maybe it all really stays in the genes. Uh-oh for me ! LOL
later TT - geo Steve
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