Kintosh History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• Scotland
• Ireland

Etymology of Kintosh

The Kintosh surname comes from the Anglicized form of the Gaelic name, Mac an Toisich. Kintosh is a patronymic surname, which belongs to the category of hereditary surnames. Many patronymic surnames were formed by adopting the given name of an ancestor of the bearer, while others came from popular religious names, and from the names of secular heroes. The surname Kintosh comes from the Gaelic name Mac an Toisich, which means "son of the chief, leader, or thane." Members of this distinguished Pictish family were originally found in Moray.

Kintosh Coat of Arms Creation

There exists a declaration from the Lord Lyon in the year 1672 in favour of the Laird of Macintosh, which says that he is the only undoubted Chief of the name of Macintosh and of the Clan Chattan, which comprehended Macpherson, Macgillivray, Farquharson, Macqueen, Macphail, Macbean, and others. This ended the claims of the chief of the Macphersons to be chief of the Clan Chattan.

In common with the Macphersons and the Sutherlands, they have a cat as their crest. Like the Macphersons, their motto is " Touch not the cat bot (without) a glove," and they have in their arms a right hand holding a dagger as a badge of their faithfulness to King Robert the Bruce in killing his enemy, the Cumming. They claim to be descended from Macduff, a Thane of Fife, and for this reason they have the red lion of Scotland in their shield. The boar's head in their shield shows that Lachlan Macintosh married Jean Gordon of Lochinvar, and there is a lymphad in memory of ancestors being driven to the coast of Caithness (Cattu), or as Nisbet has it, for marry-ing the heiress of the Clan Chattan. 1

Early Origins of the Kintosh family

Early History of the Kintosh family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Kintosh research. Another 424 words (30 lines of text) covering the years 1263, 1314, 1336, 1396, 1411, 1594, 1704, 1715, 1745, 1746, 1833, 1890 and 1957 are included under the topic Early Kintosh History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Kintosh Spelling Variations

Although Medieval Scotland lacked a basic set of spelling rules, which meant that scribes recorded names according to their sounds it was not uncommon for the names of a father and son to be recorded differently. As a result, there are many spelling variations of Scottish single names. Kintosh has been written Kyntosh, Intosh, Intoch, Toshe, Tosh, McKyntosh, McKintosh, McKintoisch, McKintoch, McIntosh, McComtosh, McKintowse, McIntosh, MacKyntosh, MacIntoch, MacIntosh, McIntoch, Mackintowse, MacKintosh and many more.

Early Notables of the Kintosh family

• William, 7th Chief of Mackintosh, who first acquired Moy, in 1336

Migration of the Kintosh family to Ireland

Some of the Kintosh family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 47 words (3 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Kintosh family

Thousands of Scots left their home country to travel to Ireland or Australia, or to cross the Atlantic for the North American colonies. The difficult crossing was an enormous hurdle, but those who survived found freedom and opportunity in ample measure. Some Scots even fought for their freedom in the American War of Independence. This century, their ancestors have become aware of the illustrious history of the Scots in North America and at home through Clan societies and other organizations. Passenger and immigration lists show many early and influential immigrants bearing the name Kintosh: Enoch Macintosh, who came to Virginia in 1668; Henry Mackintosh, who arrived in Boston in 1702; Adam Macintosh, who settled in Georgia in 1736; John Mackintosh, who came to Georgia in 1736.