I'm not saying all were topographical, but possibly more than were previously thought.

Many relate to status. The name Goldsmith is exceptionally interesting. Kneen says it means "A Goldsmith" and refers one to Mac Tereboy "son of the yellow smith". However Mac Tereboy would seem to me more likely to derive from Saerbothach, Old Irish term meaning free cottier. If this is admitted, it suggests that Teare means not "son of the wright" but "son of the freeman" and Boyde - Boddagh is the same Bothach meaning Cottier. Another Irish word of status is fuidir meaning "tenant at will." I suggest that this may have given us Mac Codhere the mysterious double of Watterson and perhaps MacFaden = Cojeen. The Irish did not use "W" and they represented the sound as "Fui" - sounds a bit back to front. Despite all the Wattersons, there are no Ballawattersons, but we do find Ballafodda and Ballafageen, altho' Broderick derives them from Patrick.

Also what do we make of Cottier - is it really MacOtter as the Manorial Roll of 1513 would have us believe? Or could it be that Cottiier, Watterson and Boddagh are equivalents. It is interesting that where you get one of these names, you don't tend to get the others.

NGC