Unanimous Recommended Clan name by the Council of Presidents

To the Families represented by: Clan MacDuffie, MacDuffee, MacDuffy, MacAfee, MacFee, MacFie, MacPhee, MacPhie and other accepted cognates.

Background

At its December meeting (13/14 December 2024) the Council of Presidents discussed possible ways to overcome the impasse of gaining an overwhelming consensus on a name for our Clan. All agreed that the most important objective of the Council was to find a new Commander and in order to do this, as soon as is feasible the name debate must be finalised as told to us from the Lord Lyon. The Clan name must be settled by the worldwide clan first.

The Lord Lyon requires evidence to be convinced that the name process has resulted in an overwhelming consensus thereby demonstrating sufficient unity and harmony. The Council found that the preferences indicated in Round 1 of the search for an agreed named, showed a reasonably even distribution among the three choices of names proposed to the Clan. i.e. MacDuffie, Macfie and Dubhsith but with no consensus. It is now proposed by all members of the Council that, as the Gaelic spelling referred to common progenitors, that selecting this option would overcome the differences created by the modern anglicized spellings of the name. The Council of Presidents agreed to this.

As a result, the Council discussed a proposal that either Dubhsith (pronounced Doo-hee) or MacDubhsith (pronounced Mac-vhoo-hee) might be acceptable to all members. The Council of Presidents decided unanimously that MacDubhsith, would be put forward to all eligible clan members worldwide as the official name for the Clan. It is our ancient, Gaelic name that connects all of us and our various anglicized surnames through a common heritage.

This recommendation will be put forth to the Clan worldwide with the objective to reach an overwhelming consensus. Without this overwhelming degree of support, our interactions with the Lyon Court will end, leaving us with neither a recognized Clan Name, nor Clan Commander, nor indeed a prosect of ever establishing a chiefly line.

Clan members will shortly receive instructions regarding the process to secure their input for the consensus required to settle the Clan name and the following steps for identification and Court review of candidates for Commander.

Signed:

Council of Presidents

Vanessa Duffy (Council Secretary, Clan Macfie Society UK)

Christer Hemberg (Thorburn-Macfie Family, Sweden)

Gary MacPhie (Joint Council Chair, Macfie Clan Society in Canada)

Jim McAfee (Macfie Clan Society of America)

Donna McDuffee (MacDuffee Clan Society of America)

Kris McPhee Marsh (Clan McPhee Society of New Zealand)

Barbara McPhee (Joint Council Chair, Macfie Clan Society of Australia) Council of Presidents

Date: January 25, 2025