McRorie and Malish--Perthshire.

[Mairi]

I have two queries that I would appreciate pointers on; one concerning an unusual surname, one concerning the use of two surnames.

The name Malish has appeared on the McRorie family tree in Perthshire in the early 18th century.
Janet Malish married John McRory/Mclaren in 1725 in Monzievaird and Strowan (what intriguing parish names!), Upper Strathearn.
The earliest Malish marriages and births I can trace on SP are in the early 1700s and they centre on the above parish---around Crieff.
Searching on surname sites for the origin has not been very successful. The name could have been a shortened version of an East European name! It could have its origins elsewhere.
Crieff's dominant trade was handloom weaving and apparently the Drummond family (of Drummond Castle) introduced some Flemish weavers at some time. That would account for a new name appearing in this small location.
However the earliest Malishs I could find had Scottish Christian names; Duncan, Janet, Margaret, Catherine.
I have been wondering whether Malish is from McLeish as I found the birth (1706) of a Janet McLeish which could be that of Janet who married John McRory/McLaren in 1725.
Could the writing of one name McLeish as Malish once upon a time in an OPR spawn a 'new' family?
Have investigated umpteen name sites as well as IGI, Ancestry, and others but am still up a blind alley.

Husband John was registered on the MC as McLaren but as McRory on the BCs of his and Janet's children. Other searches taught me some more intricacies of Clan relationships. Apparently some of Clan Ruari transferred their allegiance to Clan Labhran (McLaren) so children had a double surname in parts of Perthshire.
The question is, in trying to find John's parents, do I track McRory/McRorie or McLaren?
Mairi

[Rab]

I can see how the names may be misinterpreted through word of mouth and you can't rule that out as a possiblity. Also though it is worth noting that as births and marriages were recorded by the local parish and not mandatory it could just be that the birth was not recorded or even has been wrongly transcribed in the index- something I have found happen countless times.

Unfortunately that's the problems we encounter when we move backward beyond the statutory registration period where records are patchy at best.

I've heard of the clan name changes before and someone pointed that out with my own family tree. Apparently one line in my tree changed their name to disassociate themselves with their clan due to clan rivalries at the time. It could have been a common occurance.

[DavidWW]

Two possibilities that I can see here.......

BTW Black's "Surnames of Scotland" doesn't recognise MALISH as a surname in its own right.

Firstly, it could indeed be a version of M[a]cLEISH, whose prime variant is M[a]CLISH. The origin is the Gaelic M'A'Lìos, which is a shortened form of Mac Gill' Iosa, "son of the servant of Jesus. Black comments on some Perthshire connections.

It wouldn't surprise me at all to find that this became MALISH for some people.

Secondly, there's various other possible derivations, - MALISE, and MALLIS (linked to MALLACE) being those that I can first see. There may well be others starting with MacC....

David