MCDONALD

FOREBEARS This was the clan name of the Lords of the Isles in medieval Scotland. There was considerable interaction between Gaelic speakers and Norse speakers in the Hebrides, and the name of the founder of the clan, Gaelic Somhairle, English Sorley, is itself of Scandinavian origin, from Old Norse Sumarlíðr “summer traveler” or “summer warrior”. The Macdonalds are the largest of the Scottish clans.