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.”

The McCulloch clan was found in the northeast corner of Scotland in the Ross-shire district. The McCullochs of Scotland descended from two groups: the McCullochs of Myretoun descended the McCullouchs of Drummoral and Mull and the McCullochs of Piltoun descended the McCullochs of Cadboil.

The McCulloughs were closely allied with the MacDonalds and the MacDougalls through land holdings and marriages throughout the period of the clans. The name McCullough is recognized as being a sept of the clans MacDonald, MacDougall, Ross, and Munro.

One legend says that the family is descended from Ulgric, the grandson of Owen Gallvus, king of the Cludienses, or Strathclyde Britons. Ulgric was killed leading the gallant but wild and undisciplined Gallovidians (natives of Galloway) in the van of King David’s army at the Battle of the Standards in 1138. Ulgric and Douvenald were vice-sovereigns of Galloway, the McCullochs, Mackuloghs, or Culaghs holding sway over the lands of Ulgric, and the McDowalls over the lands of Douvenald.

Another legend states that the name McCulloch derives from a warrior of earlier lineage. Gwallawc or The Hawk of Battle, a Gallovidian chieftain of the sixth century, whose battles were celebrated by the ancient bards and is reputed, in local legend, to have be buried beneath the Standing Stones of Torhouse. His descendants thus took the name Mac-Gwallawc.

Sir Alexander MacCulloch of Myretoun (c1440-1532) was knighted by 1488 and gifted the estate of Cardoness by James IV in 1509. A favourite of the King and his father before him, Sir Alex became the Keeper or Captain of the Palace of Linlithgow in 1505 and was the King’s Falconer. It is recorded that in 1504, James IV granted a charter to Sir Alexander elevating Myretoun Castle, his principal seat, into a Burgh of Barony. It was specially noted that this royal favour was done in recognition of the hospitality the King had received from the Knight of Myretoun on the occasion of him passing to and fro on royal pilgrimages to Whithorn on the coast. This intimacy also led to the King appointing Sir Alex as Sheriff of Wigtoun from 1498 to 1501, an important office in those days, the administrative and financial functions of which were more important than the judicial.

Sir Alexander is usually identified as the Cutlar (or Collard) McCulloch, whose exploits against the Isle of Man are such a feature of Galloway history. At the beginning of the 16th century, Thomas, Earl of Derby, a young, fiery warlike chief, was Lord, or rather, King of Man. In 1507, he made a furious descent upon the coast of Galloway, and nearly destroyed the town of Kircudbright. For several years afterwards, many of the houses in the burgh remained uninhabited and in ruins. But Cutler got revenge. He speedily equipped a predatory flotilla and, assembling his retainers, sailed over the Isle of Man, and repaid the visit with interest, carrying off everything which was “not too hot or heavy” for removal. Cutlar McCulloch returned again and again, to the point that terrified locals made it a habit to eat their meat first and finish with the soup so at least to make sure of something substantial before they were disturbed by the ubiquitous McCullochs. Their constant prayer in the 16th century was:

God keep the house and all within
From Cut McCulloch and from sin.

Or as it was sometimes rendered:

Keep me, my good corn, and my sheep and bullocks
From Satan, from Sin, and those thievish McCullochs.

Sir Alexander died peacefully in bed after a colorful and less than peaceful life, August 30, 1523. His son-in-law, also called Alexander McCulloch, was killed at Flodden.

The name MacCulloch is also that of an important Scottish family. This name is traditionally derived from the Scots-Gaelic word culach, a boar, and in this connection it is interesting to note that in Co. Sligo, within living memory, Boar and Bower were in use as synonyms of MacCullagh. These MacCulloughs can be of two origins. MacCulloch is and was common in the province of Galloway, whence stemmed so many of the Ulster settlers. Its origins, however, are totally obscure, and although it has been suggested that it derives from the Scots Gaelic Mac Cullaich, it is possible that it too derives from Mac Cú Uladh and represents previous Irish settlers in Galloway. This theory is reinforced by the fact that the MacCulloughs of Ireland and the MacCollochs of Scotland claim similar coats of arms.

It was in Galloway that the softened form MacCully arose, though it is also found in Tyrone as a variant of the Ulster name MacCullough or MacCullagh. (Cully as a native Ulster name can derive from MacCullough, especially in Tyrone, or from O’Cully, Gaelic Ó Colla, a name from counties Armagh and Antrim.) Also in Wigtownshire, many of the Kellys and MacKellys changed their name to MacCulloch.

Yet another connection of MacCulloughs, those of Oban in Argyllshire, belonged to Clan Dougall and were originally called MacLulich. This name, in Gaelic Mac Lulaich, meant ‘son of Lulach’ (an obsolete personal name derived from the Old Gaelic “lu” and “laogh”, meaning “little calf”). The progenitor of this family was MacCulloch Lulach, the son of Gillacomgan, Mormaer of Moray. MacCulloch Lulach became King of Scots when (notwithstanding Shakespeare’s account) he succeeded MacBeth. Within a matter of months, however, he too was killed and was succeeded by Malcolm Canmore, circa 1157.

James MacCulloch of Wigtownshire was one of the fifty Scottish undertakers of the Ulster Plantation and in 1610 he was granted 1000 acres in Glenties in Donegal. Though he lost his grant four years later, he and his tenants remained.

The McCullough name first appears in the Ragman Roll of 1296 when Thomas Maculagh (or Mackulagh) del counte de Wyggetone, as the sheriff of Wigtownshire, Scotland, rendered homage to king Edward I. The Ragman Roll is now in the Tower of London Archives. Also signing the roll were the chieftain brothers of Michael and William. All three were prominent supporters of the powerful Balliol faction which was opposed to Robert the Bruce. When Robert the Bruce gained Galloway for the Scottish Crown, the Balliols and their McCulloch supporters were driven out. There is no reason however to term these McCullochs as traitors to their country as John Balliol’s mother, Devorguilla, was a daughter of Alan, the last hereditary Lord of Galloway. It was only to be expected that Gallovidian families should support the Balliol cause, and when Balliol submitted to the English King, his followers, of course, did likewise.

Other early McCulloughs include Sir Patrick McCoulagh (or McCullagh) and Gilbert McCoulaghe in Galloway, Scotland in 1354. Records show that Sir Patrick McCoulagh was awarded “100 marks in recompense of his suffering and loss of lands in Scotland for his allegiance to the King of England in 1360.” This showed their their staunch support of the Balliols and the King of England. Three years later, in 1363, Patrick’s son, Sir Patrick McCulloch, had the family’s Scottish lands restored to him by King David II of Scotland, a final sign that the family had regained the King’s trust and favour. Patrick (sometimes spelled Mackullouch) was listed as being the vicar of Arbroath, Scotland.

Petty’s “census” of Ireland reveals that when MacCullough and variants was listed as among the principal Irish names in the baronies of Antrim, Belfast, Carrickfergus and Toome in Co. Antrim and Lower Iveagh in Co. Down. In the previous century the Annals of Loch Cé tell us that Seamus Mac Con Uladh was killed at Dunbo (near Coleraine) in 1532. This name is given by the learned editor in his index as MacCullagh. Today in Ulster about one-third use the -agh ending and most of the remainder the -ough, although MacCullow and MacCulloch are also found. The -ough spelling is very much more common in counties Antrim and Down, but it must be remembered that the spellings do not necessarily denote the origins of any particular family. Although there are still many McCulloughs (with various spellings) in Scotland, the greatest concentration of McCulloughs in the British Isles are in Northern Ireland, There are approximately 5,000 McCulloughs with various name spellings in Northern Ireland today.

Here is a collection of many variations: