In Scottish society back in the 1700-1800's what was the difference between the name Mckenzie&Mackenzie?

Question

Mckenzie or Mackenzie, was there a differance in social class or religion between the two different spellings?

Answer 1

I'd say bernieszu is correct, at least according to Ewan J. Innes:

"Firstly, it is complete and under nonsense that Mac and Mc indicate Scottish or Irish origins. They are both EXACTLY the same word, the Mc is actually the abbreviated form of Mac (and sometimes meic) and was usually written M'c (sometimes even M') with the apostrophe indicating that the name has been abbreviated (there are many other characters indicating abbreviation including two dots under the c)."

Ewan J. Innes, MA(Hons Scot. Hist.) FSA Scot

© 1998

Answer 2

If Shakespeare (d. 1616) is known to have spelt his surname in 19 different ways, it is unreasonable to suppose that such a tiny difference in spelling as Mackenzie/Mckenzie would mean anything at all, less than 200 years later.

Even today, the British Post Office has no patience with these variants, and its telephone directories ignore them. Whether Mc, Mac or M', and whether capital K or small k, all the spellings are jumbled together, and sorted according to the next initial. Most MacAnythings in Scotland are quite unconcerned about precisely how their surname gets spelled by other people.

Answer 3

No difference at all - just that one is an abbreviation of the other. Some families used the full version and some used the abbreviated version and some shortened it even further to M or M'
Only difference in social class or religion would have been whatever differences existed between the different families bearing the name, as far as I can see.

Answer 4

I am going 2 name lots, since I don't know which ones have been done already! Accent Drive on different sides of the road Britain has a Queen America has more pollution Britain is smaller Shakespeare was born in Britain I live in Britain America use the $, Britain use the £ America calls crisps "Potato Chips", and chips "French Fries"

Answer 5

The difference is nothing to do with Ellis Island, or Americans, it goes deeper than that. The prefix 'mac' (son of) is Scottish Gaelic, the prefix 'mc' meaning the same is Irish Gaelic.

Answer 6

There isn't a difference. McKenzie is the american way of spelling it... usually converted in ellis island. Mackenzie is the scottish way.

In my family I am a MacQuarrie but when we came to the US it becam McQuarrie then Crary. Fun.

I play bagpipes.... to much time spent around proud crazy scots. lol

Answer 7

the difference was and is "a".