This unusual surname is of early medieval Scottish origin, and is an Anglicized form of the Old Gaelic "M'Equ", from "M'fhecu", a compound of the Gaelic prefix "M(a)c" or "M'" meaning "son of", and the male given name "Fecu", itself a reduced affectionate form of Fechin, the name borne by a distinguished Irish abbot, born ab bile Fechin (Connacht), who died in the year 665. Following the foundation of an abbey at Fore (County Westmeath), (St.) Fechin travelled to Scotland where he established a cult. There is a parish of St. Vigean (a variant form of the name) near Arbroath, Forfarshire. Padmund Macego was juror on an inquisition concerning the lands of Thomas de Cremennane in 1320, and in 1532, Maldonyth Macego, noted in the "Charters of the Priory of Beauly", was witness to a Beauly document. The variant spelling McAge appears in 1537, when two bearers of the name, William and Johannes McAge, were recorded as "parishioners of Duthil", Inverness. In 1578, Alexander M'Agie was noted in the Register of the Privy Council of Scotland. The name development has included: M'Kygo (Argyll, 1686); M'Egie (1635); and M'Cagie (1641). On January 11th 1818, Alexander McKeggie and Janet Caithness were married in Glasgow, Lanarkshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Gillemur Mac egu, witness to a covention between the Abbey of Scon and Adam, son of Odo, which was dated circa 1214, in the "Ecclesiastical Book of Scon", Scotland, during the reign of King Alexander 11 of Scotland, 1214 - 1249. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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