Mcclements - Name

Recorded in many forms including MacLamond, MacLamont, and MacLimont, as well as the transposed versions which include: McClymont, McClements and McCliments, this very interesting surname is of Old Scottish origins. However spelt it is derived from the Norse pre 7th century given name "Logmathr". This is composed of the elements "log", meaning "law", from the verb "legja", to lay down, with "mathr", the genitive form of "manns", man. The name therefore meant a "law man", a lawyer, and is also found in the rural districts of England where there were Scandinavian settlements, especially in Lancashire. In Scotland the name is most associated with Argyllshire. As a personal name it is recorded in Scotland as Ladhmunn in 1171 and in England as Laghman in 1247. An interesting bearer of the Lamont name was Johann von Lamont (1805 - 1879), the distinguished Bavarian astronomer and magnetician. He was born John Lamont, son of the Earl of Fife's forester, at Braemar in the Grampian Hills of Scotland. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Lawmond, which was dated 1466, in the "Register of the Monastery of Passelet", Scotland, during the reign of King James 111 of Scotland, 1460 - 1488. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.