Just wanted to follow up on our conversation from 2004/5 re dropping of the "Ma" in Mac. I had sourced info during that conversation from other researchers regarding the origin of MacEachan which suggested that the "clan" originated from Ulster before spreading to Galloway, etc. I can't vouch for the veracity of this information as I suppose it was just a theory and I haven't examined (or found) any primary sources for this theory.
In part due to this conversation, I started up a DNA project for Manx Kaighins and incorporated it into an existing McCaughan project with the expectation (or hope) that we would find a match between other Gaelic MacEachans. So far, no such luck. However, we do have some noteworthy results that are relevant to our conversation re Manx Mac names.
To give some background, my conventional research has identified 11 branches of Kaighins that are still around today. Four or five others existed in the past but have gone extinct, and one still around will most likely go extinct with this generation. Of the 11 branches, we have DNA test results for six so far, with a couple of others pending. Five of those six all are a genetic match indicating that all share a common ancestor within the recent past - most likely within the last 12-15 generations. One branch, the New Jersey Kaighns, do not match and we believe there were multiple NPEs (non-paternal events) post emigration in America, so their results can be disregarded for the purposes of this discussion.
The results so far show that Kaighins are members of the I1 haplogroup which is most prevalent in Norway and areas raided by the Norse. I still theorize that MacEachans arrived in the Isle of Man in the time of Magnus Barelegs from Galloway (around 1092 according to the Manx Chronicles) to help build the roof of Peel Castle, but the story prior to that is now divergent from the origin of the MacEachan "clan" in Galloway. If, in fact, the KirkKudbright / Galloway MacEachans originated from Ulster, then the MacEachans who arrived in the Isle of Man carrying Norse DNA with them likely settled and assimilated along the coast of Southern Scotland in the 300 or so years prior to arriving on the Isle of Man.
Alternatively, this infusion of Norse DNA could have also occurred after arriving on the Isle of Man.
This is still an unproved theory, but I intend to seek out MacEachans in Dumfries and Galloway who can trace their lineage back to antiquity to include in our DNA project.
Link to previous conversation re Manx Mac names:
h ttp://www.isle-of-man.com/genealogy/messageboard/manx_archive_2.pl/md/read/id/499962
Kaighin Family DNA Project page:
h ttp://www.kaighin.com/familyhistory/dna/branches.htm