Jamie’s Blog

First found in Herefordshire where they were seated from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.

Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: Agnes Clack, who along with her husband John and brother, arrived in New York in 1823; Abraham Clack, who settled in Maryland in 1774; Richard Clague, who is recorded in America in 1803. (info from http://www.houseofnames.com)

CLAGUE (pronounced ‘Cleg’) is a surname from the Isle of Man. This island is in the middle of the Irish Sea, midway between England and Ireland. The name is not the same as CLEG or CLEGG found not far away to the east in England, though the pronunciation is the same.

The CLAGUE name is of uncertain origin. Like a large number of Manx names, it was probably originally Mac something. In the 1400s a law was passed which made the use of all Celtic surnames illegal on the Island. This was achieved in most cases, it would seem, by removing the ‘Ma’ sound at the beginning of the name. The result is that a lot of Manx names now start with C, K or Q.

The original Mac name may have been Mac LAUTHOG, literally Son of LAUTHOG, which could be read as Son of swift, or Mac LEOCH, which is apparently derived from the word leach and may indicate that the original CLAGUES were medical doctors. Or it might have come from the Irish MAC LIACE or MAC LIAG. It was all a long time ago!

The first documented use of the name was in 1511. It is interesting that the name is almost always spelt CLAGUE, with very little variation.

Origin Displayed: English
Spelling variations of this family name include: Clack, Clague, Clacke and others.

First found in Herefordshire where they were seated from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: Agnes Clack, who, along with her husband John and brother arrived in New York in 1823; Abraham Clack, who settled in Maryland in 1774; Richard Clague, who is on record in America in 1803.

http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.c/qx/clague-coat-arms.htm

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 8:08 am and is filed under Family and Relatives. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.