Toni,

If you are looking for an island where Lawson and McMenemy co-exist, I believe the best place to be Ireland and not the Isle of Man. To my knowledge, my family is the only family of McMenemys to have haunted the Isle of Man and then only by marriage - none were born on the Island.

The McMenemy clan comes from County Donegal and you can find out a lot more at www.mcmenemy.org. It is more than possible that a McMenemy ended up in the Orkneys in the early 1800s - the Irish diaspora was scattered far and wide.

The consensus is that McMenemy is one of the many corruptions of a much older Gaelic name, Meanmain. A group of us is researching the name and someone on the site might be able to help you further - there is a bulletin board.

Good Hunting,

James