Back to Ross's genealogy.

The New Brunswick McNairns

McNAIRN is a sufficiently rare name that a genealogist might reasonably hope to compile all the bearers of the name into one database over a matter of years. In fact, Judi McNairn is attempting just such a thing in collaboration with a number of other researchers. As a contribution to that project, I have been studying my ancestors the McNairns of Kent County, New Brunswick. The facts as I understand them are laid out in the following pages:

This is a work in progress: There are omissions in the source citations, there are probably holes in the logic, and there are almost certainly garden-variety errors and inconsistencies. I invite you, nay, beg you to email me with any comments, corrections, connections or additions you may have.

The current incarnation is incomplete, even with regard to the data I have available to me. In order to get some things out in the public view, I've deliberately limited the scope. Very roughly, the work so far centers on families of McNairns carrying that name in New Brunswick, down to the second native-born generation. Omitted are numerous JOHNSONs who resulted from two marriages between McNairns and Johnsons in the first generation after immigration. I hope to add more generations and do justice to the Johnsons at a later date.

The Name

The name has had numerous spellings (and misspellings) including

...et multae cetera. The final "n" phoneme seems to be significant. The name "McNair" is much more widespread and the distinction seems to have been important -- at least to the McNairns, if not, perhaps, to all clerks, bureaucrats, and record-keepers. Therefore there are probably still lots of McNairns hiding in the public records under the alias McNair or its variations.

Back to Ross's genealogy.
This page last updated 2003 July 28.