Douglas McKercher, who teaches Gaelic at Canada’s University of  Ottawa
added significantly to our knowledge of the MacKerchers and the lore
which
surrounds our ancestors.  Here is his email of November 2000 in its
entirety.

"I'm writing you about your page on the name 'McKercher'.

First off, MacIntosh means 'son of the Thane'. The thane in question was

the
Thane of Fife, MacDuff. Not only were the MacDuffs of Royal descent, but

their red lyon rampant was appropriated to the Royal coat of arms, where

it
is found to this day. The MacDuffs were hereditary crowners of later
Kings
of Scots, among other quite singular privileges. As descendants of
Farquhar
Shaw MacIntosh, the McKerchers share that Royal descent, and can boast
of
an
ancestor mentioned in Shakespeare!

 MacFhearchair is, as you say, the Gaelic original of the
surname/patronymic. To make a genitive after Mac, you have to both
lenite
and narrow (add an i to the end of) the name.

Fearchar was a common given name in Scotland. As a result, there was
more
than one Fearchar who had sons. They were not all related. How do you
determine which one you are? Research.

As you will note if you re-read Black, some of the Lamonts are called
McKercher. These are mainly west coast families.

The McKerchers who were Farquharsons (-quh- being the Scots spelling of
-ch-
in 'loch') have lived in Glenlyon and Breadalbane (pronounced
Brad-aw-bin,
rather than Breddlebin) in Perthshire for some 400 years, serving in
various
Campbell private armies and militias, so it would really be more
legitimate
for a modern McKercher to wear Campbell tartan than Farquharson. (I wear

the
Farquharson one anyway.)

As regards pronunciation, r + a consonant was considered a hard
combination
to pronounce in Gaelic, and r was always separated from ch by a neutral
vowel 'uh'. Since everybody in the Highlands spoke like that, nobody saw

any
reason to spell the 'uh' out until they no longer spoke Gaelic.

Mac means son in Gaelic, but again, until recently, it was generally
abbreviated to Mc. This did not indicate that the bearer was Irish or
Catholic. Towards the beginning of the 20th century, many people began
spelling McKercher as MacKerrachar. The pronunciation was always
'MacKerrachar', and those who kept the old spelling had to undergo the
indignity of hearing it pronounced 'MicKertsher', until eventually they
forgot how to say it right themselves. To compound the insult, many
Lowland
Scots, 95% of whom haven't the slightest knowledge of Gaelic, will tell
you
that the 'proper' way to pronounce the name is 'MacKurker'. Feel free to

tell them to 'blae it oot their luggies (ears).' Unless they outweigh
you.
I
can say all this with some confidence, since I am a Gaelic teacher at
the
University of Ottawa, Canada.

If you're doing research on older records, note the many spelling
variations
of McKercher. I can add McCarger, McKirryher (Connecticut), and
McCarragher
(Ireland) to Black's collection. More than one person has mistaken the
name
for MacArthur, especially French-Canadian priests. That becomes useful
information when a male McKercher marries a French girl, because the
women
usually pick the minister and the children's religion. Sometimes a
McKercher
disappears from the view of history on his wedding day! I have heard it
said
that General Douglas MacArthur was really a McKercher, but I've never
seen
it verified.

Best regards and congratulations on an interesting website.

Sincerely,
Douglas McKercher