Lambroughton - The Origins of The Name Cunninghame

The Origins of The Name Cunninghame

Robertson states that the name is variously described as originating from the Danish appellation 'King's House' or the Gaelic Cuineag, a 'milkchurn'. In this context Pont in 1604 records that the parishes of Dunlop and Stewarton produced very significant amounts of butter, with "One aker of ground heir zeilding more butter then 3 akers of ground in aney ye nixt adiacent countreyes."

Another possibility stated by McNaught is that the name derives from the coney or rabbit country. This is not as unlikely as it might sound, for Hart-Davis points out that no Anglo-Saxon or Celtic word for 'rabbit' exists and no mention is made of them in the Domesday Book of 1086, also 'coneys' were adults and the term rabbits was only used for the young. The Normans, such as Warnebald, introduced the species for their meat and fur. They were either kept in warrens within stone walls or kept on small islands, such as on Little Cumbrae. Only later did they escape into the wild and become a successful member of the British fauna. Black rabbits were especially valued for their fur. Significantly a pair of coneys are the supporters on the Earls of Glencairns coat of arms. Mackenzie also sees the name as coming from either Coning, a rabbit or Cyning, a king; preferring King as denoting a Royal manor during the Anglo-Saxon sovereignty over Galloway. The use of a pictorial rhyming pun is called a rebus and is very common on coats of arms. A Charter of the time of Mary, Queen of Scots, refers to Eglinton's 'cunningaries,' Scots for rabbit-warrens.

Another theory is that the name derives from that of Cunedda ap Edern who lived in the mid 5th. Century. The Latin form of his name is Cunetacius and the English is Kenneth. He is also known as Cunedda Wledig ('the Imperator') as he was an important early Welsh or Brythonic leader, originally from the area known as Manau Goddin with its capital at Dunedin or as it is now known, Edinburgh. He was a famous leader and the progenitor of the royal dynasty of Gwynedd. His name 'Cunedda' derives from the Brythonic word counodagos, meaning 'good lord'. He drove the Irish out of North Wales and left behind a reputation which has become bound up in myth and legend.

By the early 13th century the family had taken the surname of Cunynghame now Cunninghame. Paterson, a man brought up in Kilmaurs parish, argues that the original name was Cunigham and that local people pronounced it that way until relatively recently. McNaught in 1912 confirms this and states that the name all over Scotland is still pronounced "Kinikam". A "cunningar" is Scots for a rabbit-warren and a variant place name is 'Kinniker'. Cunninghamhead Moss was still referred to as Kinnicumheid Moss in the 18th century. The Gaelic pronunciation of Cunninghame could also be taken as sounding not unlike "Kinikam".

Robertson points out that the various branches of the family spell their name differently; as Cunninghame for Glencairn and Corsehill, Cuninghame for Caddel and Monkredding, Cunningham for Baidland and Clonbeith and finally Cuningham for Glengarnock. It is said by Chalmers in his Caledonia as quoted by McNaught, that the settlement of Kilmaurs was known as Conygham until it was changed sometime in the 13th century.

The modern view is that the name Kilmaurs is derived from the Gaelic Cil Mor Ais, meaning Hill of the Great Cairn. Kilmaurs was known as the hamlet of Cunninghame until the 13th century.