Origin of the Name McRae
The origin of the name
McRae was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives.
Over the centuries Surnames developed a wide number of variants. Different spellings of the same name can be traced back to an original root. Additionally when a bearer of a name emigrated it was not uncommon that their original name would be incorrectly transcribed in the record books at their new location. Surnames were also often altered over the years based on how they sounded phonetically and depending on the prevailing political conditions it may have been advantageous to change a name from one language to another.
Variants of the name McRae
include McCrae, McCrea, McCree, McCrie, McRea, Ray, Wray and Rea. This name in Gaelic is MacRaith and the latter variants are the anglicized forms of this. This name is usually of Scottish origin and is found in many mediaeval manuscripts in that country. Examples of such are a John Makcra who was recorded as being a messenger in Ayr in the year 1621. A Robert McCrie was charged with being a disorderly person in the parish of Carsfern in the year 1684. An Allan McKree was Burgess of Prestwick in the year 1733. A part of this clan moved to Ireland where they settled in Counties Antrim and Down. The placename Ballymacrea in County Antrim is named after them. An early record locates these families in Ireland from the year 1600 where they were became well established, even before the Plantation of Ulster .
The McRae coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all McRae descendants.