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The first people to use the name Aichenhed were a family of Strathclyde-Britons who lived in the Scottish/English Borderlands. The name comes from when someone lived in a barony in Lanarkshire where one of the first records was dates to 1372, when Robert II granted the lands of "Akynheuide" in Lanark to John de Maxwell in 1372. Convallus de Akinhead was recorded as witness to another land grant in the same year. 1
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Aichenhed research. Another 218 words (16 lines of text) covering the years 1296, 1376, 1444, 1489, 1673, 1676, 1697 and 1699 are included under the topic Early Aichenhed History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Surnames that evolved in Scotland in the Middle Ages often appear under many spelling variations. These are due to the practice of spelling according to sound in the era before dictionaries had standardized the English language. Aichenhed has appeared as Aikenhead, Akenhead, Akynhead, Akynheued, Aikkenhead, Achenhead and many more.
Notable amongst the family at this time was Thomas Aikenhead (c.1676-1697), a Scottish student from Edinburgh who was prosecuted and executed at the age of 20 on a charge of blasphemy; he was the last person in Britain to be executed for that charge. He was the son of an apothecary at Edinburgh and was described as 'not vicious and extremely studious.' "His religious opinions became unsettled by the perusal of 'some atheistical writers,'...
Another 73 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Aichenhed Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
The North American colonies beckoned, with their ample land and opportunity as their freedom from the persecution suffered by so many Clan families back home. Many Scots even fought against England in the American War of Independence to gain this freedom. Recently, clan societies have allowed the ancestors of these brave Scottish settlers to rediscover their familial roots. Among them: Elizabeth Achenhed who settled in Jamaica in 1774.