MacDonald Name Study

Profile managers: Keith Macdonald [send private message] and One Name Studies WikiTree [send private message]

About the Project

The MacDonald Name Study project serves as a collaborative platform to collect information on the MacDonald name. The hope is that other researchers like you will join the study to help make it a valuable reference point for other genealogists who are researching or have an interest in the MacDonald name.

As a One Name Study, this project is not limited to persons who are related biologically. Individual team studies can be used to branch out the research into specific methods and areas of interest, such as geographically (England MacDonalds), by time period (18th Century MacDonalds), or by topic (MacDonald DNA, MacDonald Occupations, MacDonald Statistics). These studies may also include a number of family branches which have no immediate link with each other. Some researchers may even be motivated to go beyond the profile identification and research stage to compile fully sourced, single-family histories of some of the families they discover through this name study project.

Also see the related surnames and surname variants.

How to Join

To join the MacDonald Name Study, first start out by browsing our current teams to see if there is a specific study ongoing that fits your interests. If so, feel free to add your name to the Membership list below, post an introduction comment on the specific team page, and then dive right in!

If a team does not yet exist for your particular area of interest, please contact the Name Study Coordinator: Keith Macdonald for assistance.

... ... ... is a member of the MacDonald Name Study Project.

Once you are ready to go, you can also show your project affiliation with the ONS Member Sticker:

Teams / Research Pages

• MacDonalds by region or area
• English Macdonalds
• Macdonald Emigration
• MacDonald DNA
• MacDonalds at Trafalgar

Membership

• Keith Macdonald
• Example: [[Wiki-ID|Name]] - I am interested in the MacDonalds of Europe during the 18th Century. I am hoping that this research will help me break down one of my brick walls!

Related Surnames and Surname Variants

The original Gaelic spelling for MacDonald is MacDhomnaill. Thanks to it being anglicised in various inconsistent ways, by English-speakers who knew not the Gaelic, we now have many variations: MacDonald, Macdonald, McDonald, Mcdonald, MacDaniel, McDaniel, MacDonell, MacDonnell, McConnell, Donaldson and so on.

Here are links to the individual WikiTree pages for each known variation:

• MacDonald
• McDonald

• MacDaniel
• McDaniel

• MacDonell
• MacDonnell
• McDonnell
• MacConnell

• Donaldson

Some census records show the name as "Mackdonald". When I checked on 15th April 2024, none such existed here on WikiTree. But having asked the question in G2G: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1718729/mackdonald-should-be-macdonald I'm now adding new records here with the last name as "Mackdonald" unchanged, in the hope we find evidence to change the LNAB later.

• Mackdonald

This does not include many other clans and septs that had their own distinct names, but on occasion, by ancient Scottish custom, would adopt the name MacDonald. A famous example is the Napoloeanic Field Marshall - Jacques Étienne Joseph Alexandre Macdonald (1765-1840) whose father was Neil (MacEachen) Macdonald (1719-1788)