Chief Fergus Day Hort Macdowall of Garthland
Patron of the Kyle Family Society
Chief Macdowall has confirmed that he will accept Kyle families in the the Macdowall Clan, if they so wish, as variants of the Coull Sept.
The Macdowall Clan does not have an independent Society but Macdowalls generally join the MacDougal Clan and participate at games together with them. Chief Macdowall is an honorary President of the MacDougal Society.
Chief Macdowall of Garthland & Lady Macdowall of Garthland (above)
The Family of Macdowall
by Chief Macdowall
Motto: Vincere Vel Mori (To Conquer or Die)
23rd June 2005
I thank you and the Board of Directors of the Kyle family Society who on behalf of your officers and Members have paid me the high compliment of recognizing me as the Patron of your Society.
This conclusion is founded on our mutual antiquity in the South-West of Scotland and on the patronym shared by our Septs. The honour you have given to my House of ancient Galloway is magnified by the neighborly precedence of your ancestral Strathclyde Britons throughout ancient Cumbria.
Your "Commemorative Certificate" to me is a grand heraldic matriculation that I should like to value as an historic achievement for us all.
I am most grateful for your kind thoughts and I look forward to our collaborating at Scottish Games and related events.
Yours Very Sincerely
Macdowall
1
The Names Coull, McCoul, Cole, Coyle, and Kyle in Clan MacDowall
The names
Coull, McCoul, Cole, Coyle, and Kyle, with or without the Mac, Mc, or M’ prefix, are found within Clan MacDowall. Some of these names are more ancient than the name Macdowall itself, and some appear in other clans and families also, especially in Clan MacDougall.Coull, McCoul may have arisen as phonetic spelling variations of
Macdowall and these families have always been part of the clan. In some cases families came from elsewhere to live within the Macdowall territories in Galloway. A Clan Chief has the traditional power to accept such local families to be his followers and full members of his clan. In this later group are the Names Coyle, Cole and Kyle as variously spelled.Depending on ancient or local dialects and accents, a single surname may have more than one pronunciation today. Some of these pronunciations include:
1. Those rhyming with the word
coil, typical of the names Coile, Coyl, Coyle or MacCoyle etc. and sometimes a local pronunciation of the name Kyle in the UK and Ireland.2. Those rhyming with the word
cool, typical of the names Coull or McCoul.3. Those rhyming with the word
soul typical of the names Cole or Coles and sometimes Coull.4. Those rhyming with the word
style typical of the names Cyll or Kyle in North America and AustraliaThere is an independent
Kyle Family Society based in the US with a web site at: www.kylesociety.org. Chief Fergus Macdowall is the Patron of the Kyle Family Society. In its Society name, the Kyle Family Society uses the surname "Kyle" for simplicity to encompass all variations of its surname spellings and pronunciations. The Society has members with several origins and spellings of the surname. Surname spellings and their variations include:Cael, Caeles, Caelus, Caelius, Cill, Cil, Coales, Coales, Coel, Coelius, Cole, Cola, Coil, Coile, Coils, Coilius, Colees, Coles, Coleye, Colles, Collye, Colye, Cooals, Cooils, Cooles, Cooyles, Cooyell, Cooylles, Coull, Coyl, Coyles, Coyll, Coylle, Coylles, Coyls, Cyll, Kaal, Kaale, Kail, Kaile, Kaul, Kayle, Kayll, Keil, Kile, Koil, Koile, Koiles, Koill, Koyel, Koyl, Kuyle, Kyolle, Kyle, Kyll, Kylle and others.
In 2005 Clan Chief Fergus Macdowall confirmed that Kyle families and their surname variations, if they so wish, will be accepted as clan members as variants of the
Coull, McCoul, etc. name of the Clan MacDowall. As members of Clan MacDowall these families are eligible to join the Clan MacDougall Society of North America and to participate in its games, parades, and other activities.The
Kyle Family Society is focused on members of Scots or Scots/Irish descent, most of whom probably trace their lineage back to the District of Kyle in Ayrshire which is located just to the north of Galloway in southwest Scotland. It seems that at least some of these Kyle families took their surname from that local District of Kyle. There are two leading explanations for how the District of Kyle obtained its name. According to a local tradition, the name derives from the ancient King Coel Hen, popularly known as Old King Cole who appears to have ruled in the early 5th century. However another explanation is that the District of Kyle seems to have anciently been covered with forest, so the District of Kyle may very probably have got its name from the Celtic coille, "a wood". The local population was confluent with the 2north of Wales and their language was the northern Celtic Brythonic language similar to Welsh Gaelic, so either explanation is possible.
Centuries of invasions by Northumbrians, Vikings, and Scots caused the population to disperse widely. Kyles endured much hard fortune in the centuries of border disputes, religious wars, and other troubles that afflicted Scotland and particularly the Lowlands.
Many Kyles hoped to find opportunity by emigrating to nearby Ireland but often found more hardship there. Many migrated further, primarily to the US, Canada and Australia --- often after a stay of generations in Ireland. During these turbulent centuries some most likely found their way into or out of the
Macdowall feudal territories in adjacent Galloway. They are welcome members of Clan MacDowall as advocated by the famed Scottish heraldic genealogist Hugh Peskett. Pictured below in his Kyle tartan is Jaeame Koyil, the founding President of the Kyle Family Society which represents the ancient Kingdom of the Strathclyde Britons, and Chief Fergus Macdowall in two of the tartans his clansmen may wear.By Scott MacDougald and Jaeame Koyil and
Clan Chief Fergus Macdowall of Garthland
Fergus Macdowall of Garthland and Jaeame Koyil (above)