Origin of Alexander

 

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• Alexander Origin and Immigration
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• Name History and Origin for Alexander
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• Alexander Surname Distribution
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  • Distribution of Alexander Families in the US in 1840
  • Distribution of Alexander Families in the US in 1880
  • Distribution of Alexander Families in the US in 1920
  • Distribution of Alexander Families in England and Wales in 1891

Origin of Alexander Total Records: 2  Origin of Alexander, Meaning of Alexander Origin: An aider or benefactor of men. From ??, to aid or help, and ??, a man. A powerful auxiliary. Surnames: Alexander Submitted by: Origin of Alexander, Meaning of Alexander Origin: ALEXANDER, a surname in Scotland, probably derived originally from the first king of that name, but chiefly borne by the earls of Stirling and their descendants. The family of Alexander, earls of Stirling, is traced from a remote period by genealogists, who derive it from a branch of the Macdonalds. Somerled, king of the Isles, who lived in the reign of Malcolm the Fourth, and was slain in battle about 1164, had by his second wife Effrica, daughter of Olave the Red, Icing of Man, three sons, Dugall, Reginald, and Angus. After Somerled's death, the Isles, with the exception of Arran and Bute, which had come to him with his wife, descended to Dugall, his eldest son by his second marriage. Dugall also possessed the district of Lorn. On his death the Isles did not immediately pass into the possession of his children, hut appear, according to the Highland law of succession, to have been acquired by his brother Reginald, who, in consequence, assumed the title of king of the Isles. [Skene's History of the Highlanders, vol. ii. p. 49.] The portion of property which fell to Reginald's share on his father's death consisted of Islay among' the Isles, with Kintyre and part of Lorn. The genealogists, of the noble family of Stirling have confounded this Reginald with his cousin Reginald the Norwegian, Icing of Man and the Isles, who was contemporary with him, and who was the son of Godred the Black, king of Man, the brother of Effrica, Somerled's second wife. Reginald, lord of Islay and South Kintyre and Icing of the Isles, was the father of Donald, the progenitor of the clan Donald, who had three sons, Roderick, Angus, and Alexander, Roderick's male descendants became extinct in the third generation. The second son, Angus, lord of Islay, the Angus Mohr of the Sennachies, and the first of his race who acknowledged himself a subject of the King of Scotland, was ancestor of the earls of Ross, lords of the Isles, of the lords Macdonald, and of the earls of Antrim in Ireland. His grandson, John, lord of the Isles, took for his second wife, the princess Margaret, daughter of Robert II., and his third son by her, Alexander, Lord of Lochaber, forfeited in 1431, had two sons, Angus, ancestor of the Macalisters of Loup, Argyleshire, and Alexander Macalister, who obtained the lands of Menstrie, Clackmannanshire, in feu from the family of Argyle, and was ancestor of the earls of Stirling. His posterity took the surname of Alexander from his Christian name. He had a son, Thomas, 2d baron of Menstrie, who is mentioned as an arbiter in a dispute between the abbot of Cambuskenneth and Sir David Bruce of Clackmannan, 6th March 1505. Thomas' son, Andrew, 3d baron, was father of Alexander, Alexander, 4th baron, who had a son, Andrew, 5th baron. This gentleman was father of another Alexander Alexander, 6th baron of Menstrie, who died in 1594, leaving an only son, Sir William Alexander, 7th baron of Menstrie and first earl of Stirling, a Memoir of whom is subjoined in larger type. Surnames: Alexander Submitted by: DP 2/17/2012 10:40 PM Page 1 of 1

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