Tosser History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• Scotland
• Ireland

Etymology of Tosser

The Tosser surname comes from the Anglicized form of the Gaelic name, Mac an Toisich. Tosser 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 Tosser 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.

Tosser 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 Tosser family

Early History of the Tosser family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Tosser 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 Tosser History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tosser Spelling Variations

Before the first dictionaries appeared in the last few hundred years, scribes spelled according to sound. spelling variations are common among Scottish names. Tosser has been spelled 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 Tosser family

More information is included under the topic Early Tosser Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Tosser family to Ireland

Some of the Tosser 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 Tosser family

In those unstable times, many had no choice but to leave their beloved homelands. Sickness and poverty hounded travelers to North America, but those who made it were welcomed with land and opportunity. These settlers gave the young nations of Canada and the United States a strong backbone as they stood up for their beliefs as United Empire Loyalists and in the American War of Independence. In this century, the ancestors of these brave Scots have begun to recover their illustrious heritage through Clan societies and other heritage organizations. Early passenger and immigration lists reveal many Scottish settlers bearing the name Tosser: 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.