This ancient Scottish surname is a patronymic form of the earlier Scots Gaelic 'mael' meaning 'devotee or shaven-one' plus 'coluimb' a personal name from the Latin, 'Columbus', a dove, hence, a 'devotee of Columba', the famous saint of Iona. One, Norman filius (or son of) Malcolumbe is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 for Yorkshire. Four Kings of Scotland bore the personal name Malcolm. Malcolumb was one of the witnesses to the earliest Scottish charters, that of King Duncan to the monks of St. Cuthbert, (1094). An early occurrence of the surname Malcolmson is that of Robert Malcolmson burgess of Sterling in 1437. The name is recorded in the registration of marriage between Katherine Malcolmsone and John Dig Makmiller on March 4th 1612 at Inverness. One Elizabeth daughter of James and Barbara Malcolmson had her birth registered, on July 7th 1805, at Inverness. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Symon Malcolmsoun of Berwickshire, which was dated 1296, Calender of Documents, during the reign of King John Balliol of Scotland, 1292 - 1296. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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