Dallas is a Moray surname long before it is a Texas city. It comes from the barony and parish of Dallas, in the valley of the River Lossie about nine miles southeast of Forres, and the place-name is probably built from old Celtic words for a meadow and a dwelling.
The barony of Dallas on the Lossie
The parish of Dallas lies in the upland country of Moray, drained by the upper River Lossie, between Forres and Elgin. The Dictionary of American Family Names explains the surname as a habitational name from the barony of Dallas and derives the place-name from British dol, “meadow” (Gaelic dail), and gwas, “dwelling” (Gaelic fas). The idea of a “meadow dwelling” suits a settlement on the valley floor of the Lossie.
The parish has changed shape over time. In 1657 some lands passed from Dallas to neighboring Rafford while others were added from Elgin parish, and its present church dates from 1794. The ruined Tor Castle, a stronghold of the Cummings, stands within the parish, a reminder that by the later Middle Ages the Comyns and Cummings were among the great landholders here.
From Moray to Cantray
Families who took their name from the barony carried it beyond the Lossie valley. The best-documented branch was the Dallases of Cantray, near Croy in the lower Nairn valley, who became established landholders in the Inverness district. An early twentieth-century History of the Family of Dallas traced their descent over several centuries and remains the fullest account of the name.
The Cantray family’s most dramatic moment came in 1745. James Dallas of Cantray commanded a company in the army of Prince Charles Edward Stuart and was killed at Culloden on 16 April 1746, leaving his wife, Margaret Hamilton, and four children. His death, only a few miles from his own lands, tied the Dallas name to the last battle of the Jacobite Rising. The Lyon in Mourning project, which studies the Jacobite testimonies gathered after Culloden, records him as a speaker of English, Scots and Gaelic, a reminder that the family moved easily between Lowland and Highland worlds.
A Scottish name in American politics
The surname reached America through Scottish families who moved across the Atlantic world in the eighteenth century. Alexander James Dallas, born in Jamaica to a Scottish family, became Secretary of the Treasury under President Madison from 1814 to 1816.
His son George Mifflin Dallas was born in Philadelphia on 10 July 1792 and had a long public career: United States senator from 1831 to 1833, minister to Russia, eleventh Vice President of the United States from 1845 to 1849 under James K. Polk, and minister to Great Britain from 1856 to 1861. He died in Philadelphia in 1864. Encyclopaedia Britannica credits him as the namesake of the cities of Dallas in Texas and Oregon, although the exact circumstances of the Texas naming have long been discussed.
That American fame means a search for “Dallas” today brings up the city first. For family historians, the older story still begins in the meadows of the Lossie valley in Moray.
Dallas in Ulster and beyond
The Dictionary of American Family Names also records the surname as established in County Derry, in the north of Ireland, where Scottish settlers carried many surnames in the seventeenth century. An Ulster Dallas family may therefore have Scottish roots, although each line needs its own documents to show it.
Researching a Dallas family
For Scottish lines, the parish registers of Dallas and neighboring Moray parishes such as Rafford, Elgin and Forres are the starting point, together with the registers of Croy and Inverness for the Cantray branch. Testaments, sasines and estate papers help trace landed families; statutory registers from 1855 give parents’ names and occupations. Because the parish of Dallas also contained many families with other surnames, an ancestor “in Dallas” and an ancestor named Dallas are two different research questions.
Look for the Dallas name on our woven blanket, accent mug and ceramic ornament, or explore our Dallas Scottish family gifts.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the Dallas surname come from?
From the barony and parish of Dallas in Moray, northeast Scotland, on the upper River Lossie near Forres.
What does Dallas mean?
The place-name is probably from Celtic words meaning “meadow” and “dwelling,” British dol and gwas, Gaelic dail and fas.
Is Dallas, Texas named after a Scottish family?
The city is usually said to be named for Vice President George Mifflin Dallas, whose family was of Scottish origin, though the exact circumstances of the naming are debated.
Who were the Dallases of Cantray?
A landed branch of the family near Inverness. James Dallas of Cantray led a company for the Jacobites and was killed at Culloden in 1746.