Maukinrich Plantation
Maukinrich Plantation KGL V NT246970 1 385 80m SEF
Maukinrich Plantation 1856 OS 6 inch 1st edn.
This name has to be compared with the field-name Makimrich, Fala and Soutra MLO. Norman Dixon describes Makimrich MLO as ‘apparently a name of popular origin applied, perhaps ironically, to land of very low feu-duty’ (Dixon 1947, 192). In her discussion of Makimrich MLO, Carole Hough is sceptical of Dixon’s interpretation, seeing the name rather as entirely positive, in the same class as the field-name Make Me Rich in the West Riding of Yorkshire, explained by John Field as ‘a complimentary name for a productive field’ (Hough 2001, 44, quoting Field 1972, 132).
However, the existence of the place-name Mackimrough # KTT (PNF 2), which appears as Mak em Rough 1775 Ainslie/Fife, and Mackimrich or Mackimrough 1816 Sasines no. 11124, opens up the possibility that names such as Maukinrich and Makimrich originally derive from Sc mak him ruch ‘make him (or them) rough’, vividly, humorously and pejoratively describing rough, difficult land. It has to be said that straightforwardly complimentary field-names in Scotland, especially those consisting of a verbal construction, are rare (see Pilkhambrae ATL for more on these names; see also Taylor 2008 (Gelling Festschrift).
The OS Name Book 9, 20 adds yet another interpretation, which in the light of the other, similar names discussed above can be safely dismissed as a piece of folk-etymology: ‘A fir plantation on the south side of Inchdairniemuir Plantation, to which it is united. The name has been derived from an abundance of Hares frequenting the place, the word Maukin signifying (in Scotland) a Hare.’
This place-name appeared in printed volume 1