M is usually retained in formal or guarded speech. It is in colloquial and familiar talk, though not always even then, that it is dropped. For example, in Arran MacNeacail, Englished Nicol, may be heard as Ac Riocail, Mac Cùga, Englished Cook, as Ac Cùga, and Mac Lothaidh (Mac Clothaidh?), Englished Fullarton, as Ac Lothaidh. We may note also Gleann Ac Lothaidh or Glen Cloy, in 1472 Glenklowy, meaning Glen of Mac Loy or Fullarton, in which the family of Fullarton of Kilmichael has owned lands from the days of King Robert the Bruce. Similarly, in Kintyre, Mac Dougall is Ac ’ùghaill, Mac Ionmhuinn, Englished Mac Kinven, is Ac Ionmhuinn, and Mac Naomhain, Mac Niven, exemplifying the local change of ao in certain cases to nasal ì, is pronounced Ac Rìomhainn. Mac Ionmhuinn, which is distinct from Mackinnon in Arran and Kintyre Mac Eanain, is a Gaelic rendering of the imported Lowland name Love, which is its English equivalent in Arran, just as Mac bradain and Mac sporain are Gaelic renderings respectively of the imported names Salmon and Purcell. In at least one instance the patronymic has passed into English in its decapitated form, viz., Mac Mhuirich, pronounced Ac uirigh and known in English as Currie. This peculiarity, which is quite unknown in the North Highlands, is met with in Ireland, and is prominent in the Isle of Man. Many Manx names, owing to it, begin with C or K, and have done so for over three centuries; e.g. Callister , for Mac Alister, is on record in 1606, and Kermod for Mac Dermid in 1586, and both are still in use. The corresponding Welsh word Map, son, has suffered in the same way, and so many Welsh names begin with P, as Parry, son of Harry, Pritchard, son of Richard.
This ac for mac has been given by Shaw in both parts of his Dictionary as a Gaelic word for son, and has been adopted by other dictionaries.
Mh
Non-initial mh nasalises an accented flanking vowel as a rule. There are exceptions, such as cliamhuinn, son-in-law, riamh, ever, in some dialects.
