Boyd Family History

Scottish: habitational name from the island of Bute in the Firth of Clyde from Bòid (genitive case of Bòd, the Gaelic name of the island of Bute) or Bòideach denoting a person from Bute.

Alternatively, the name may denote descendants of a Gilla filius Boed who appears in reference to Glasgow Cathedral in the early 12th century, perhaps from the Gaelic personal name Boite, of uncertain origin.

Scottish and Irish: from the Gaelic epithet buidhe ‘yellow(-haired)’. Compare Bowie.

Manx: from Mac Gille Buidhe ‘son of the yellow-haired lad’ (compare 2 above).