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MacClooney, MacCluney, MacCluny,

MacCloonie,  MacClunie, Cluny,

Clunie, Clooney
 

The name Cluny is found as early as the 13th century in Perthshire. MacCluny, McCluny, or M’Cluny simply mean the 'son of Cluny' and may have originated at any point up into the 18th century and perhaps later. Other forms of the name include Clunie, Clunie Cluney. The name is taken from one of the places named or called Cluanadh. It is derived from the Gaelic word "cluanag" meaning an ‘Islet in a river, a piece of choice pasture or a meadow.’ One such place was the estate from which Cluny of the '45 takes his name, which was known by that name in the late 16^th century and perhaps for years before that. In 1591 in a bond agreement between Clan Farson and the Earl of Huntly, we find an Andrew Makfersone in Cluny. The "in cluny" would indicate that he was still considered a tenant and did not as yet have inheritable rights to the land. It is not until 1609 that a bond of union among the Clan Chattan finds him in possession of the land, when he is found listed as Andrew Macpherson of Cluny.

The link as such to the Macpherson clan can only be because of the estates of the clan and not from any connection to Cluny of the '45. When that link was started is anybody's guess, but one would have to think perhaps even earlier than the 1600's and was most likely  used by people on the fringes of the Clan territory to show loyalty to the Laird at "Cluny."

Today you would be welcomed into the Clan family simply because of the connection of the name. The odds of making a direct connection are perhaps a little better than astronomical in numbers. The 16^th Century is about as far as anyone can go in researching their ancestry in Scotland other than traditional genealogies such as royal lines which can not be proven and often made up. Same with the Genealogies of the Chiefs of the Clans in Scotland. In our Macpherson Clan, the Chiefs genealogy goes back to Gillichattan Mor the progenitor of the clan. Those before the 17^th century and Andrew Makfersone are actually a best guess and some maybes, or at best "Traditional Genealogy."