“The name McCulloch is one of the oldest in Galloway. It is of Celtic origin and indicates that the family of that name sprang from the early British inhabitants of that district. Naturally, a family of such antiquity can boast of a number of fanciful legends concerning its origin.” Thus begins Walter Jameson McCulloch’s “GALLOWAY FAMILIES OF McCULLOCH.”
It has been said that the name McCulloch is “Ultra memoriam hominium,” or from before human memory. According to SurnameDB: “The first known recordings are thos of Thomas MacUlauth in a 1285 Balliol legal instrument, a 1292 forfeiture of lands held by Gilbert Makiluagh, and the signing of the Ragman Rolls by Thomas Maculagh and his brothers William and Michael in the year 1296.
However, in the “Hereditary Sheriffs of Galloway” Andrew Agnew traces the earliest recording of the name to a Bishop Makwolok who died in 733.
Alternative spellings of the name, such as the Irish “McCullough” may have derived from McCulloch but were interpreted from a local Ulster context, but may even have derived independently.
Whether or not the name McCulloch and apparent variations had a single origin, the lowland Clan McCulloch of Galloway, Scotland has had a history and genealogy that at times is reasonably well documented though wildly misconstrued by antiquarians.
To learn more about the McCulloch family history, download a copy of Walter Jameson McCulloch’s “GALLOWAY FAMILIES OF McCULLOCH” and visit our Resources page for DNA, history, and genealogical sources.
