The official website of the
House of Wilson of Kilwinnet
HEAD:
The Much Honoured John G. Wilson of Kilwinnet, the laird of Kilwinnet
LANDS:
Kilwinnet, South Ayrshire
HISTORY:
The surname Wilson means ‘son of Will,’ Will being a shortened form of the personal name William, derived from the Germanic word ‘Willahelm’ Normanised.
William, along with other names of Continental origin, were introduced into Britain around the 11th century by Norman families. The name developed in popularity when William the Conqueror became William I of England. In Scotland, William as a personal name, had arrived by the reign of William the Lion (r. 1165-1214) when abbots, a bishop, chamberlain, chancellor and sheriff, were all recorded as having the personal name William. The name soon found its way into the Scottish Highlands where it became 'Uilleam' for William in Gaelic and 'MacUilleam' for son of William. Some Highland MacUilleams may have anglicised their surname to Wilson on later settling in the Scottish Lowlands. Recent DNA research may indicate a Highland ancestry for the family of Wilson of Kilwinnet.
With the eventual arrival of surnames in Scotland (not all of them were hereditary in the beginning), a John Thomson may have taken his father’s Christian name Thomas for his surname. This form of naming custom is called patronymic - a surname that is derived from the father’s personal name with ‘son’ added to the personal name. In fact, you could have men from the same extended family later ending up with different fixed surnames, stemming from various patronymic names used within that family. The result of each adopting fixed surnames at different periods as the fashion slowly changed, may have occurred over two or three generations. One particular family which had been using the personal names: William, Robert, John and Thomas, could have ended up with any of the following as new fixed surnames: Wilson, Robertson, Johnston, and Thomson. The result being that: all their blood descendants, later bearing different fixed surnames, would have a common genetic ancestor. And of course, the same surnames would have evolved, independently, in other unrelated Scottish families, producing similar surnames which comfuse researchers of family history.
The recent development of DNA testing for the use of genealogists, continues to reveal that there are a number of Wilson families who appear to have had unrelated founding genetic ancestors in both England and Scotland, all later using Wilson as a fixed surname. A Wilson DNA project can be viewed at: http://www.m222.net/wilsondna.htm
With all this in mind, it is incorrect to regard all Wilsons in Scotland as descendants of one Wilson clan or family, or, even to say that they are all a sept of one particular Scottish clan. Some Wilsons may belong to a small number of clans, namely Innes, Gunn or McGregor. Wilson individuals researching their particular family history need to establish, as far as possible, a documented historic connection to a particular clan or with its feudal territory.
The house of Wilson of Kilwinnet descends from a Robert Wilson who was living in Ayrshire in the mid-1700s, who has earlier family origins in Paisley, Renfrewshire,and possibly before that, to the old Celtic lands of the earldom of Lennox - around Old Kilpatrick. The Wilson family may have settled there from the Highlands, as recent DNA studies indicate. In regard to the family's deeper origin, one theory is that, it shares an ancient genetic ancestry with a small number of other families, today, bearing various other Scottish surnames and who share a common genetic ancestor, possibly of Dalriadac or Pictish origin.
This website covers various topics and it is hoped that there will be something of interest to everyone visiting this family’s ‘cyber seat’.
Contact is welcome at: kilwinnet@hotmail.co.uk
LATEST NEWS
July 2009.
John Wilson of Kilwinnet and other Wilsons have recently attended the International Gathering of the Clans in Edinburgh, where Wilson members represented our family and name. It is planned to hold another gathering of this sort in the next few years. If you are interested in attending or willing to help, please register your interest using the above email address.
John Wilson of Kilwinnet at Aboyne Games in 2008. Kilwinnet has represented the Wilsons at the various International Gatherings since the 1980s.
