Re: Surname Dow-origins

From a canned history of the name done by the Hall of Names I bought my father for his birthday a couple years ago:

"The name Dow was first found in Berwickshire, where they had been seated from very early times.

Although your name, Dow, appeared in many references from time to time, the surname was shown with the spellings Dow, Doe, Dove, Dows, Dowes, Doves, and these changes in spelling frequently occurred during a person's own lifetime, or between father and son...

The family name Dow is believed to be descnded originally from the Boernicians. This ancient founding race of the north was a mixture of Scottish Picts, Angles and Vikings, a race dating from about the year 400 AD...

...the earliest records were found in Berwick. This name was originally in the Gaelic, McCalman, meaning a Dow, or Dove, and although the name was first officially recorded about the year 1300 it is believed to have been many centuries seated in the area between Berwick-on-Tweed and Edinburgh. John Dow held estates in Berwick in the year 1370. By 1500 the name had moved north to Perthshire and the name had also acquired lands in that country. The name was recorded in Strathdee in 1527. Notable amongst the family name during the early history was Dow of Berwickshire."

Check out www.tartans.com

Do a search on Dow and Dove. The name Dow is a Sept, or allied family, of both Clan Davidson and Clan Buchanan. While Clan Davidson lists only Dow as a Sept, Clan Buchanan lists Dow, Dove, and McCalman.

From this information, the Dows appear to have Scottish origins.

What do you think?