Clan Gow

also MacGowan, MacGown

Smiths of Clan Chattan, and the Prince of Scottish Fiddlers.

Origin: Perthshire, Scotland
Motto: Touch not the cat bot a glove
Famous bearer: Neil Gow, fiddler and composer
Register: Scottish clan

Territory of Gow

The seat of Clan Gow

Seat vacant

Chief

No one leads the Clan Gow community yet. When the movement opens, you can stand for its leadership, or help elect whoever does.

Current mission

No shared goal set yet. Once Clan Gow has leadership, it sets the public focus: a restoration, a gathering, a real-world project that helps its own.

The Gow clan is being rebuilt. Join the waiting list for the movement today, and you help decide who leads it and what it does.

Help rebuild the Gow clan →

Motto

Touch not the cat bot a glove

What does the Gow name mean?

From the Gaelic 'gobha', armourer or blacksmith. The son of the smith is 'mac gobhann', anglicised as MacGowan.

The history of Clan Gow

The name Gow comes from the Gaelic 'gobha', meaning armourer or blacksmith. The Gows are part of the Clan Chattan confederation. At the trial-by-combat fought on the North Inch of Perth in 1396, the hero of the day was the 'Gobha Chrom', the Crooked Smith, said to be small in stature, bandy-legged but fierce.

Neil Gow (1727–1807), the Prince of Scottish Fiddlers, was born at Inver in Perthshire. A born musician, his services were sought at fashionable gatherings throughout Scotland and England.

He was especially celebrated for his reels and strathspeys, and many of his own compositions are still played today.

Champions of the Gow name

The bearers whose lives are inseparable from this surname. Each has its own page — biography, achievements, geography, connection to the family.

Niel Gow
The Inver weaver's son who taught himself the fiddle by ear, was retained as house musician by the Dukes of Atholl from 1745, composed roughly eighty-eight strathspeys and reels that became the repertoire of Scottish traditional music, and sat for Raeburn at sixty-three as the foundational image of the Scottish fiddler.

Step Into History

Walk the streets and seats the Gow name knew — a photoreal walk through time, on foot.

Step Into History · New

Walk Inverness in 1745Enter →

The old castle above the River Ness, the market cross and the seven-arched bridge — on the eve of Culloden.

Step Into History · New

Walk Urquhart Castle in 1509Enter →

The great castle guarding the Great Glen, newly granted to the Grants of Freuchie, whole above Loch Ness.

Notable bearers of the Gow name

Neil Gow, fiddler and composer

Frequently asked

What does the surname Gow mean?

From the Gaelic 'gobha', armourer or blacksmith. The son of the smith is 'mac gobhann', anglicised as MacGowan. The name Gow comes from the Gaelic 'gobha', meaning armourer or blacksmith.

Where does the Gow family come from?

The Gow family is rooted in Perthshire and The Highlands & Islands, in Scotland. Within that, the name was particularly concentrated in Atholl & Strathearn and Inverness & the Aird. The atlas page for the name records the historical territory it has held over the centuries.

Is Gow a Scotland surname?

Yes, Gow is a Scotland surname. Its editorial home in this atlas is Scotland, where the historical territory and family record of the name are concentrated.

How old is the Gow surname?

The name Gow comes from the Gaelic 'gobha', meaning armourer or blacksmith. European hereditary surnames crystallised broadly between the 12th and 14th centuries, and the Gow name took its modern form within that long settlement.

What is the Gow family known for?

Smiths of Clan Chattan, and the Prince of Scottish Fiddlers. The name Gow comes from the Gaelic 'gobha', meaning armourer or blacksmith.

What is the Gow motto?

The motto of the Gow family is "Touch not the cat bot a glove". Family mottoes were registered with the chief of the name and carried on the heraldic arms and battle-banners.

Who is the most famous Gow?

The best-known bearer of the Gow name is Neil Gow, fiddler and composer. Their life and connection to the family are profiled in full on the dedicated champion page.

Is MacGowan the same family as Gow?

Yes. MacGowan is a historical spelling variant of the Gow name. The two share the same lineage and family affiliation; different parishes, clerks and migration registrars recorded the same name in slightly different forms, and the variant spellings sit on the same family tree.

Is MacGown the same family as Gow?

Yes. MacGown is a historical spelling variant of the Gow name. The two share the same lineage and family affiliation; different parishes, clerks and migration registrars recorded the same name in slightly different forms, and the variant spellings sit on the same family tree.

Where is the Gow surname found today?

Scotland is the primary historical home of the Gow surname. In the modern era, the name is also borne across the wider diaspora, particularly in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where families carry the line of descent from the same Scotland origin recorded on this page.

What does the Clan Rising page for the Gow family cover?

The Clan Rising page for the Gow family covers the meaning of the surname, the historical geography of the name, the family motto, famous bearers of the name and the seat of the head of the family. Each section is linked to the underlying atlas of Scotland so the name can be read in the geography that shaped it.

Who is the head of the Gow family today?

The seat for the head of the Gow family is currently vacant on this register. Clan Rising is rebuilding the chief and family structure for the modern era, and the family page allows readers to claim the seat or pledge to the name.