Where We Come From, vol. 5

Still another legend says that the McCullochs took their name from a warrior who in the Crusades carried the device of a wild boar (which in Gaelic is cullach) on his shield and distinguished himself in the Holy Land with his gallantry and daring. On his return, William the Lion, in reward for Cullach’s martial prowess, granted him the lands of Myrton, Glassertoun, Killasser and Auchtnaucht. The grateful soldier adopted as his patronymic, the word cullach, his nom-de-guerre. His son Godfrey, named after Godfrey de Bouillon, the First King of Jerusalem and Knight Templar, was naturally styled Mac-Cullach. Although this story is the most plausible, it is probable that the king was merely confirming those lands in the name of the McCullochs as they are mentioned as being a prominent family in the area some 400 years before.

We also have Lullach, the stepson of the infamous Macbeth and ruled for a few months as King of the Scots until killed by Malcolm III. He was the natural son of the Mormaer of Angus and was married to the daughter of the Mormaer of Moray. He had a son and daughter by this marriage and his son would have been styled “Mac-Lullach”. As Gordon McCulloch, a local historian from Paisley, Scotland, notes: “MacBeth was one of Scotland’s great Kings, regardless of the erroneous tragedy written by Shakespeare. After taking the Crown and deposing Duncan, he kept peace in the land for almost his entire reign of seventeen years (1040-1057). However, he married Duncan’s widow, Gruoch, possibly to reconcile Duncan’s supporters, and took into his house her son ‘Lullach’, known as ‘Lullach the Fool’. When Macbeth campaigned in Ireland, his point of departure from Scotland, was the Kirkcubright Coast. He and his forces spent years moving between the two lands on expeditions. It is alleged that Lullach married a local laird’s daughter and settled down. Indeed, after Macbeth’s death, opponents of Malcolm tried to regain the throne by summoning Lullach (as direct heir) northwards to be their figurehead. They failed and Lullach was killed by Duncan’s grandson, Malcolm Canmore, in 1058 at Essie in Strathbogie in the attempted coup … Pitullich is another old Scots name, but in no way related to McCulloch or McLullach. Indeed Mac or McCulloch is just the soft spoken border pronounciation of McLullach, the letter ‘L’ not being pronounced either by Lowlanders, or in the Gaelic.”

Explore posts in the same categories: Our Name