Lambroughton - Origins of The Name

Origins of The Name

The surname and place name both appear to be derived from that of the clan McLamroch. Only a handful of people in Great Britain have that name today. The Scottish Genealogical Society refer to a family tree which derives the McLamroch's from the Cunnigham (Cunningham) family. McLandsborough, Landsborough, Landsburgh, Lamroch, Lamrochton, Lamrock, Lamberton are all variants. The lands of Lambroughton lie in the parish of Dreghorn and have therefore given rise to a fairly common personal name. Several graves in the neighbouring parish church of Kilmaurs: St Maurs-Glencairn carry the name Lamberton, a William Lambroughton was the 'Kilmaurs poet' (See Additional notes) and the name is now found all over the World. A Laird of Lamrochton is recorded in the 14th. century. In 1691 the surname Lamrochtoun is found in use only for Kilmaurs in the Ayrshire Hearth Tax records.

The place name has many variants, such as, Lambruchton, Lambrochton, Lamrochtoune (1544), Lambrachton, Lambrachtoun, Lambrachtoune (1332), Lambroughtoune (1794), Lambriegton, Lambughton (1672), Lambructon (1669), Lammerachtounhead (1745–55), Lamburghtonn (1776), Lambroychtoune (1561), Lambrieghton and Lambristoune. The 'Mc' part of the name was dropped and Lamrochton became Lambroughton after passing through several intermediate stages. At this time, due to Queen Margaret, niece of Edward the Confessor and the second wife of Malcolm III (1058–1093), it was customary to anglicise surnames and many families did so, such as Andrews, Adams, Campbell, etc. The Highlanders called her the 'Accursed Margaret', to the Lowlanders she became St. Margaret. There is a parallel to this in the Isle of Man where few signs remain of the old Manx language patronymic system remain. Today (2006) there are several farms with 'Lambroughton' incorporated, namely 'Townhead of Lambroughton', 'East Lambroughton', 'West Lambroughton' and 'Mid Lambroughton'. Timothy Pont's map of 'Cuninghamia', surveyed in the early 17th century (1604–1608), but not published until the 1654 by J.Blaeu indicates the place names of 'Lambrochmill', 'Mains of Lambrochton' and 'Lambrochton B.(bridge?)'. Ainslie in 1821 only names Lambriegtonend and Lambriegton for Mid Lambroughton.

Many of the abbreviations give a soft pronunciation to the 'gh', as in 'Lamberton', however the original Scots pronunciation may have been more like the 'och' in 'loch', thus 'Lambrochton' would be closer to the original.