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We shall give a very short History of the family and refer the reader by way of links to more information already on the web in other sites.
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The Hanna Name
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The earliest Scottish forms of the family name are found on the Ragman Rolls of Landed Gentry , 1296. Here it appears as "de Annethe"
and "a'Hannay." These two name-forms are considered by leading British genealogists to be the earlist recorded names of the ancestors of the
Hanna family of Scotland. Both name-forms, with some variations, were used by the family until the latter part of the 16th century. About 1600,
the family surname of Hannay
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(or Hannah, Hanna) was generally adopted. The Ragman's Roll, an instrument of homage, is preserved in the Tower of London.
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During the early part of the 17th century, after a part of the family migrated to Northern Ireland, the name was commonly spelled Hanna.
The Modern branches of this ancient family carry the names of Hanna, Hannah, Hannay, or Hana, all have the same family origin.
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A distant kinsman of the author, Alexander Hannah, Esq., of Inverness, Scotland, wrote that the name Hanna is a Galloway name of Pictish-
Gaelic origin. Mr. Hannah wrote:
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"An old Galloway name found nowadays mainly in the forms Hanna, Hannah, Hannay but in old records as Ahana, Ahannay, Ahanna,
Ahannah, and ahannay. The derivation is uncertain , the prefix "a" or "Ap" is Cymric for "son" the equivalent of the Irish "O" and the Gaelic
"Mac". Agnew in his "Hereditary Sheriffs of Galloway" states the family are of Pictish descent and suggests Hanna is an spirrated form of
"Sennach" probably derived from "Sean", old, venerable, or Seannach- lucky, fortunate.
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The chief family was that of Sorbie who were at fued in the 16th century with Murrays of Broughton, their forays appearing frequently
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in the Privy Ciuncil Records, 1599-1604. When the Sorbie Estates passed to the Earl of Galloway in the Middle of the 17th century the family
appears to have scattered.
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