Origin of the name Levack

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Rob Livingston2
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Origin of the name Levack

Post by Rob Livingston2 »

You got Leavensidhe (the village of Linsaig in Cowal) mixed up with "leughair", which is "reader".
Rob Livingston2
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MacLeas in Caithness

Post by Rob Livingston2 »

Without doing an extensive search, I have found several MacLeas in Dingwall in the early 1800s (familysearch.com).
Andrew Lancaster4
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Origin of the name Levack

Post by Andrew Lancaster4 »

Thos Maclea wrote in "account"... Others derive the name of McLea form Leavensitdh, a Reader, and thus several of that name have been in several stations in the Church, There was a Popish Bishop of the name of McLea that built the Castle of Auchindoun in Lessmore, the name and designation of the Popish and Praelatical Bishops of Argyle being called Bishops of Lessmore, Episcopus Lissmorensis, and the Kirk officer there, from Father to Son these several Generations bypast, is McLea, who hath heritably one half of a merk land for being Beadle or Kirk officer there, and who hath still the Bishop's club (8) akeeping and who is therefore called Baron Bachuill to this day and the last Popish priest that served at the Provostry of Kilmun in Cowal was McLea, and there are and have been several of the name of McLea Priests in Ireland.
Rob Livingston2
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Origin of the name Levack

Post by Rob Livingston2 »

I guess that's where the danger comes in reading old accounts.
Alec Levack
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MacLeas in Caithness

Post by Alec Levack »

Dingwall is in Ross-shire, 100 miles south of the Levacks in Caithness.
Alec Levack
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Origin of the name Levack

Post by Alec Levack »

I've never heard of the the village so I couldn''t have got it mixed up. Depending on grammatical case, gh and bh in Gaelic are both pronounced as an English "V", therefore "Leugh" - to read, is pronounced phonetically "Lave". I am not a Gaelic scholar but was brought up speaking conversational Gaelic.
Andrew Lancaster4
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Origin of the name Levack

Post by Andrew Lancaster4 »

I had wonder if the term was an indirect way of saying reader, via a form of the word for a book. I had thought his spelling was probably not standard, but I suppose he lived in what was then a Gaelic speaking area, and knew how it was pronouced. Andrew
Rob Livingston2
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Origin of the name Levack

Post by Rob Livingston2 »

The pronunciation of a "gh" as a "v" sound is new to me.
Rob Livingston2
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Origin of the name Levack (Lev-ach)

Post by Rob Livingston2 »

I found a more specific citation for the meaning of "-ach" from Black's "Surnames of Scotland".
Dawne
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Origin of the name Levack

Post by Dawne »

Hello Alec was just reading through your query and the responses...can't say that we are even close to putting together all the information that you have managed! Our grandmother's name on our mother's side was Helen Mary Levack... She was born and her family lived in Portobello,Scotland in the 1800''s. Her Father was William and her mother Janet (nee Bernard.. perhaps cousin to the Dewar(sp) whiskey family) they had a number of children, only five made it to adulthood from what I understand.We are in the process of trying to trace back further their lineage. From what we were told from a family member, we were descended from France, the original family leaving during the French Revolution. We haven''t be able to validate that statement. I wonder now if we may find relatives yet that still live over in Scotland. I don't know any information about William''s or Janet''s families, which would lead us to cousins and such... If any of this interests you, please write back, I would be very interested in hearing from you. Thank you for your time. Dawne
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