Calhoun

Variations – Colquhoun
Racial Origin – Scottish
Source – A locality

This family name, Calhoun, being a modern variation of the true form of Colquhoun, comes from the name of one of the clans of the Scottish Highlanders, who derived it from the name of the locality in which they established themselves, the Barony in West Kilpatrick (or Kirkpatrick), in Dunbartonshire.

Beyond this, the mists of the past cloud the search for the origin of the place name.  By some the name of Colquhoun is supposed to be derived from the given name of “Counchin.” By others it is explained as “Colgchnoin,” a personal name meaning “war-dog,” and virtually the same as the name of that great Irish warrior of antiquity, “Chuchulin.”   The spelling does not look alike but remember that the gutturals of the Gaelic are rather difficult to indicate, and that the Gaelic speech itself has undergone changes from its ancient form, just as English, French and German have done.

The Clan Colquhoun, however, dates only from about the year 1240 or so.  It was organized and founded by one Humphrey de Kilpatrick, who, though not himself a Gael, had received a grant of land in that section from the Earl of Lennox in the reign of King Alexander II. of Scotland.