Hi, surnames in Ulster are very difficult to categorically identify
as Scottish or English in many cases. There are several reasons for
this. One is that the Ulster Irish settled western Scotland (the
Dalraidians), and continued to settle it into historical times.
So that many Scottish clans originate with the O'Neills. For
myself, I am descended from them at least 3 ways on the Scottish
side of the family (all of these being "oral" traditions since
there are no BMD's for 600 AD). So there were the same names in
Irish (Gaelic) and they got anglicized to the same English names,
in many cases. Many of the folk in Antrim who think they are Scots
are Irish -- and vise versa. Esp. North Antrim which received a
lot of Scots immigrants before the plantation. The McDonnells invaded,
bringing a lot of highlanders along -- their surnames were all
Gaelic and similar (if not the same name) to the indiginous Irish.
My mother's Blacks, from Ahoghill, I am told have been proven to
be Lamonts who came with the MacDonnells, by someone in Scotland.
learning this made me happy since we had oral history which appeared
to originate before the Earls left (and the plantation began),
and then I knew it was true.
Secondly there were many early Scots migrations into Ireland.
The Irish Earls imported them as mercenaries. Some came with
Edward the Bruce on his invasion in 1314 (I think) and an unknown
number stayed. These fellas tended to meld into the Irish population.
A few major Irish clans are galloglass (Scots mercenary) in origin:
the MacSweeneys for one. These Scots tended to stay Catholic
during the Reformation. Of course so did some of the Scottish
lords, like some of the Hamiltons.
There is a known Campbell galloglass soldier who was a descendent
of the Galloway MacCampbells, most of whom otherwise settled in
Co. Down. The galloglas Mac Ailin clan came to Tirconnell in the
15th century -- you find them Anglicized to MacCallion too.
Some Tyrone Campbells are actually from a Tyrone sept named
Mac Cathmhaoil, which has been anglicized many ways, including
MacCawell. Most of the Ulster ones were still Clan Campbell.
This info is from Bell "The Surnames of Ulster".
My brother in law is an Irish Campbell. According to his father,
they have "always been" Irish and Catholic, but "always" means
2 generations back. That's about as far as you can bet on anything.
So these Irish Campbells do interest me.
Beyond these generalities, I do not think anyone has really
sorted them all out. If you find any research that has, please
let me know!
Linda Merle