Type MacDermid into most surname databases and you will be handed a family of Irish kings you are probably not descended from.
The redirect happens because Scottish MacDermid and Irish MacDermot both grow from the personal name Diarmaid. Same root, two countries, two separate families, and one very persistent mix-up.
Sorting that out is the first job in a MacDermid search. The second is working out which of six spellings your ancestors used in the year you want.
Why Do Surname Sites Send MacDermids to Connacht?
Because the Irish family is louder in the record. The MacDermots descend from Tadhg mac Cathail, king of Connacht from 925 to 956, and take their name from Diarmait mac Taidhg Móir, seventh king of Moylurg, who reigned from 1124 to 1159. Their kingdom in what is now County Roscommon ran into the 1580s from an island stronghold on Lough Key, and the senior line still holds the style of MacDermot, Prince of Coolavin.
None of it runs to Argyll. Our McDermott history follows the Connacht line, and is the place to look if your paperwork points at Roscommon or Sligo.
The Oxford-backed Dictionary of American Family Names states the relationship plainly. MacDermid is a Scottish variant of McDiarmid, anglicizing Gaelic Mac Dhiarmada, son of Diarmaid, from di, without, and airmait, envy. It adds that this is etymologically the same name as Irish McDermott. Same name, different men, no shared pedigree.
Where Does the MacDermid Spelling Actually Live?
In Scotland first, then Canada rather than the United States. FamilySearch's Family Tree carries 254 MacDermids in Scotland, 171 in Canada and 30 in the States: emigration into Ontario and the Maritimes rather than the Ulster route west, a traffic our accounts of the Highland Clearances and where the cleared families went describe.
Within Scotland the name belongs to old Campbell country. The 1901 census counted 906 people under the MacDermid heading, ranking it 772nd, and the belt runs from Argyll through Breadalbane into western Perthshire, ground covered in our guides to the clans of Argyll and the clans of Perthshire.
Is MacDermid Really a Campbell Sept?
It depends on whose list you read.
The Clan Campbell Society (North America) publishes a sept roll running from Arthur and Bannatyne through the Calders, MacIvers, MacKellars and MacTavishes to the Thomsons. No Dermid form appears anywhere in it.
Electric Scotland's larger compilation does list MacDiarmid and MacDermid, but under Campbell of Breadalbane rather than the chiefly house of Clan Campbell at Inveraray. Breadalbane was the Perthshire branch, seated at Taymouth on Loch Tay, and that association describes a tenurial tie in one district, not membership of the whole name.
Our companion piece on the MacDiarmid spelling takes up the wider Campbell descent story and the boar behind it. The honest summary is that MacDermid families lived among Campbells and were often counted with them, and that no sept list is a genealogical finding.
Which Spellings Should You Search Together?
All of them, in one session. MacDermid, McDermid, MacDiarmid, McDiarmid, MacDermit and MacDermed are one name in the registers. Clerks chose by ear, and a household can change form between a baptism and a burial.
Two things follow. The 1901 census mapping folds every Mc and M' into Mac before counting, so published totals already merge the prefixes. And wildcards beat guessing: a query on the consonant skeleton pulls forms you would never type. Our ScotlandsPeople guide shows where those options sit.
The American split runs the same way: the 2020 census recorded 752 spelled McDermid at rank 32,724 against 122 spelled MacDermid at 140,525. A short prefix tells you nothing about which Scottish parish you left.
Which Records Hold Argyll MacDermids?
- Start with the statutory registers from 1855, which name both parents and the mother's maiden surname; our note on civil registration covers what they carry.
- Work back into the old parish registers for Argyll and west Perthshire, expecting gaps: Highland coverage before the 1780s is thin.
- Read estate papers alongside the parish books. Tenants on Breadalbane and Argyll ground appear in rentals and factors' accounts predating any surviving baptism.
- Check Canadian censuses and land petitions early, given how much of the name went there.
- Never merge an Irish McDermott into a Scottish MacDermid on the surname alone.
Who Carries the Name Today?
The best-known bearer spells it short. Val McDermid, born in Kirkcaldy on 4 June 1955, was the first pupil from a Scottish state school admitted to St Hilda's College, Oxford. She has written more than thirty crime novels, took the Gold Dagger in 1995 and the Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2010, and created the Tony Hill books filmed as Wire in the Blood.
Frequently Asked Questions About the MacDermid Name
Are MacDermid and McDermott the same family?
No. They share the root Diarmaid but formed separately in Scotland and Ireland, and the MacDermots of Moylurg are a distinct family with their own recorded descent.
Is MacDermid the same name as MacDiarmid?
Yes. Two spellings of one Gaelic patronymic, and they should always be searched together.
Is there a Clan MacDermid?
No chief of the name has been recognized. MacDermid appears on some compiled lists as a name associated with Campbell of Breadalbane, which is not a clan of its own.
Sources and Further Reading
- FamilySearch: McDiarmid — the Oxford entry on Mac Dhiarmada.
- FamilySearch: MacDermid — Scotland, Canada and US counts.
- MacDermid in the 1901 Scottish census — 906 bearers, ranked 772nd.
- Clan Campbell Society (North America) sept list — the roll that omits MacDermid.
- Electric Scotland: clan sept names — MacDiarmid and MacDermid under Campbell of Breadalbane.
- The MacDermots of Moylurg — Lough Key and the Coolavin style.
- Surname Database: MacDermid — a reference routing the Scottish name to Connacht.
- Val McDermid — Kirkcaldy and the Daggers.
- McDermid in the 2020 US census — 752 bearers, ranked 32,724th.
- MacDermid in the 2020 US census — 122 bearers, ranked 140,525th.