An Introduction to Clan MacMillan

The MacMillans, one of the oldest clans in Scotland, descended from a 12th century religious devotee called Gilchrist, who was a son of Cormac bishop of Dunkeld - a great-great-grandson of the 11th century Scots Kng Macbeth.

The collective name of Gilchrist’s descendants, Clann an Mhaoil or “Children of the Tonsured One”, comes from the nickname by which he is remembered: Maolan, “Tonsured-One” / An Gillemaol , “Tonsured Servant (of God)”. The two resulting surnames, MacMhaolain and MacGhillemhaoil, have been transcribed phonetically by Scots and English speaking people in over 200 different ways over the centuries; so there is no “correct” English version, though the majority of modern clan members use variations on the three most usual forms: Macmillan, MacMillan, McMillan.

Septs are branches of a clan that use a different surname. In some cases this is because their surname is the given-name or nick-name of a particularly famous member of the parent clan (e.g. the Cannans from Cane/Cainn M'millan or the Baxters from the M'millan "baker"); or because their name is a very different version of the usual surname (e.g. Bell for the Mhaoil of MacGhille-Mhaoil, or Mulligan for Maolagain as an alternative version of Mhaolain). Sometimes a branch of the clan took its surname from the place it lived or from the occupation of its ancestors (e.g. the Walkers).

The present chief, George MacMillan of MacMillan & Knap, is the 23rd generation after Gilchrist Maolan and the 12xGreat-Grandson of Alexander MacMillan of Knap, the 15th century Constable of Castle Sween who is remembered by a famous Celtic Cross in the ruined church of Kilmory Knap. In addition to his line, there were two other main branches of the clan with their own chiefs: those in Galloway, headed by the McMillans of Brockloch & The Holm of Dalquhairn, who probably branched off the main line sometime in the 14th century; and those in Lochaber, whose chiefs, the Macmillans of Murlagan, probably branched off from the Knapdale line sometime in the 16th century. These branches spawned others in neighboring areas; such as Arran (from Knapdale); Ulster (from Galloway); Glenurquhart & Outer Hebrides (from Lochaber). There are now probably more MacMillans living outside of Scotland than in it, which has caused the proliferation of Clan Macmillan societies, branches and family groups around the world. They’re all autonomous bodies, linked by their members’ shared alleliance to the chief; but some coordination of the clan’s world-wide activities is carried out by Clan MacMillan International, which is based at the Clan Centre opened in 1991 at the chief’s estate in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The Centre has an extensive family history archive, the contents of which are gradually being made available on the Clan MacMillan website as Project MAOL (Macmillan Ancestry On Line).

New members are encouraged to visit the Clan MacMillan website for more detailed information regarding Clan history and events.

The website address is: www.clanmacmillan.org