What’s In a Name? by Don Munro
Foulis Castle
Before we look at our origins, perhaps we should check out our name. Is it Munro, Munroe, Monro, Monroe – these are all names associated with the Clan and we have all seen them. But there are others.
The earliest spellings can be found in the Calendar of Writs of Munro of Foulis 1299-1823. For example: In Writ No 2 dated 1333-50 we find Munroo: In 1338/9 we have Monroe: In 1350 we have Munro: In 1370 we have Monrooch: In 1379 it was Monro. We also have Munrow.
From all of this it is fairly obvious that our very distant ancestors had the same trouble regarding spelling as our more recent ones had when they emigrated to America, Canada, Australia or South Africa. If they were illiterate, as many were, then the name was written as the person writing it thought it should be written. In the case of our early ancestors this would probably have been a monk or for our more recent ancestors, this would have been an immigration officer.
In Scotland, the most common spellings are Munro and Monro, while in America you will find, in the main, Munro, Munroe, Monro and Monroe. In Alexander MacKenzie’s “Munro Family History 1898” the Chiefs’ surnames are all shown as Munro and of the 42 Cadet families, 9 are Monro, 33 are Munro. He only uses these 2 surnames.
We are the Clan Munro because that is how our Chief spells his name. I wonder if it would be the Clan Monro if our next chief was a Monro?
I have seen people writing to web sites saying that they are true Munros because their surname is Munro. Be assured that we are all true members of the Clan Munro no matter how we spell our surname.
Let me know what you think.
The reason spellings vary is that historically few of us could write, as you say, and those who could didn’t worry about consistency. The oral tradition was more important in propagating the name. In the Highlands the name is pronounced with a slight emphasis on the second syllable and a soft roll of the R. The spelling would not matter if the Mon of Monro or Monroe was pronounced the same way, as in month, Monday, or money. I suspect this has changed in some places to emphasise the Mun/Mon. Thank goodness for Marilyn, whose alliterative name just doesn’t work that way.
Hi, I don’t think that the spelling of the surname is significant. For example I am a Munro and have a huge family tree of Munros descending from my 4th great-grandfather of the 18th century, but I have found in the records the odd instance of our family members being recorded by the spelling of Monro and Munroe, and that is in records in Scotland and England. Further to this, having studied the clan history in quite some detail I have found different sources and books etc referring to the same member of the chief’s family sometimes as Munro and sometimes as Monro. It was just how the scribe wrote it down at the time. I am sure all of us have had to correct people when we have told them our surname and they have wrote it down incorrectly – of course in modern times it is important to get the spelling of ones name correct, whichever of the variations it may be.
I wrote a short article a few years ago on the spelling of President James Monroe’s name. A cousin of his reported that originally it had been spelled Monro, but the president-to-be began adding a flourish at the end of his hand-written name, and later began spelling it Monroe–the added “e” taking the place of the flourish.
Further to What’s in a Name–if a bit off the topic:
Col. Sir Hector Munro, 11th Baronet, died in 1935 with no male heir. His daughter Eva Marion married Col. C. H. Gascoigne. Their son, Capt. Patrick Gascoigne, took the name Munro (officially approved) to become Clan Chief. His wife Timmy and Capt. Pat (deceased) are the parents of the current chief Hector Munro. [When I visited Foulis a few years ago, Timmy told me that she is Irish. ]
But the current Hector’s male-to-male lineage is not of the Munro of Foulis line, so DNA verification stopped with Col. Sir. Hector.
This is not to diminish in any way my feeling that Hector and Finnian (Chief to be) are fine carriers of the name and traditions of the Munro family.
Hello all – I am a Munro. I am also an indexer and arbitrator for the FamilySearch website. I came across another spelling of the name while indexing people from Jamaica and regions, – Munaroa – and have been assured that this is simply a localised spelling.
There are many more spellings. Munroo, for one.