Re: Hello from a new member!

[Niven Sinclair <niven@niven.co.uk>]

At 20:49 05/11/00 -0500, you wrote:
> Thank you for accepting my request to join the
> Sinclair mailing list.  :o)
>
> In searching my surname of "Snody" (which until just a few
> generations ago
> was spelled "Snoddy"), I learned that  my surname is a
> sept of the Clan
> Sinclair.
>
> My ancestors are Ulster Scots, and from what I have learned my family
> moved
> to northern Ireland from Scotland in about 1650, then to
> Philadelphia,
> Pennsylvania about 1735, then to Virginia, then North Carolina 
> where I now
> live.
>
> My ancestors help settle this part of northwest  North Carolina, and
> up
> until the last fifteen years or so, most of the families in the area were
> of
> Scots-Irish descent.
>
> I am very curious to learn how the surname "Snoddy" is
> affiliated with the
> Clan Sinclair.  Is it through marriage, or was it for protection by
> the
> Sinclairs?
>
> Any information you can share with me will be greatly appreciated.
>
> Sincerely,
> Rebecca Snody
>
> [ This is the Sinclair family discussion list, sinclair@mids.org
> [ To get off or on the list, see
> http://www.mids.org/sinclair/list.html


Dear Rebecca,

        

        

        

        

Snody,
Snoddy, Snoddie, Snodgrass

As you correctly surmise, this name is to be found in Scotland
and Northern Ireland.  It began as
a nickname for a neat, trim and tidy person from  the Norse word
snod with the added diminutive
suffix of  'y' or 'ie' which is not unusual in Scotland where we
speak of a 'roadie'. a 'lochie', a 'manie',
a wifie, etc.

There are three different branches of Sinclairs in Northern 
Ireland:

        

        

        

        

The
Sinclairs of Belfast

        

        

        

        

The
Sinclairs of Balymena

        

        

        

        

The
Sinclairs of Holyhill

At the moment, I cannot find any connection with "Snoddy"
except to suggest that Sinclairs (generally
speaking) are always very particular about their dress and appearance so
it may be that some of them
became known as being "Snoddie" which is really a Scandinavian
way of saying that they were "Dandies"
- which many Sinclairs undoubtedly are.

Perhaps Ian Laird can let us have his views on the likelihood of this
(admittedly) rather fanciful derivation !!

Niven Sinclair