My mother is a MacKay, and an older cousin from that side of the family - the 'distaff' side, that is (I've always wanted to use that term) - once told about his brief visit to Sutherland, by way of paying homage to our roots while he was in the neighbourhood on business. When he told a local that he was a MacKay from Canada, the local informed him that the MacKays were known as sheep-thieves. Cuz and I got a great laugh out of that - it wasn't till much later that it occurred to me that the MacKays would have been thrown off their land and replaced with sheep, so - whaddya expect?