Re: Au contraire, mon ami. Hector is an ancient Scots name and now here follows a wee story.....
....when The Spanish Armada was defeated in the English channel in 1588, some of their ships that escaped found their path back to Spain blocked by English warships.
They were forced to sail all the way up the east coast of England and Scotland. Then round the north of Scotland and headed south by way of Ireland's west coast, before arriving home many months later.
However, on the way, many ships ran out of supplies and many also became unseaworthy. Several ships stopped off at various points in the north of Scotland and the west of Ireland.
Many sailors stayed and settled in these places. These are the people the term 'the black irish' is derived from.
To this day Spanish surnames are fairly common on the Irish west coast.
Also, in Scotland, many of their children would be christened with Scottish names like.......Hector.
The name grew in popularity among the Spanish, finding it's way back to Spain and, with the subsequent Spanish conquest of Central and South America, to the new world.
OK, that's all for now. Help yourself to a Werther's on the way out.
And no running!!
Professor McCann.
