This list covers just a few of Hebrideans whose names are well-known for one reason or another. In fact, if you look at who's who in business, industry and culture today, you'll often find that natives of the Hebrides are a feature. With the islands' high quality education system, islanders who leave the islands tend to make a big impression in whatever they do. Here are just a few people that you may have heard of...
| Flora MacDonald (1722-1790) | Native of South Uist in the Hebrides, Flora helped Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Jacobite Prince to safety following the failed rebellion of 1745. She later emigrated to North Carolina and was active in recruiting Scots to fight for the British in the American War of Independence. |
| John Wayne | In the 1950s John Wayne remarked to a Hollywood reporter that he was 'just a Scotch-Irish little boy.' In the ancient past, the Morrison clan had originated on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides. They moved to Northern Ireland Ulster with the Great Migration during the seventeenth century when tens of thousands of Scots Presbyterians, at the invitation of the English, crossed the Irish sea and crushed the Roman Catholic peasants who occupied the land. |
| Donald Trump | The American multi-millionaire's mother's family came from the Isle of Lewis: it is said that she spoke with a soft island lilt all her life. |
| Major Duncan Morrison | The late Duncan Morison was a much loved music teacher and piano player who was well known not only in Lewis but by his playing for 'society' throughout Britain & Ireland and around the world, not least playing for the Queen Mother! In 1998 he bequeathed his house at 44 Habost, Ness, Isle of Lewis to Comunn Eachdraidh Nis (Ness Historical Society and in 1999/2000 was renovated and converted into a Gaelic arts & music centre with modern facilities while still maintaining traditional elements. |
| Norman MacCaig 1910-1996 | Generally regarded as the finest Scottish poet of his generation (writing in English), Norman MacCaig was awarded the Queens Medal for poetry in 1986. His father was a chemist in Edinburgh and although born in Edinburgh, he had island connections through his mother, who was from Harris in the Hebrides. The family always felt close to island society and its culture held a strong influence over Norman. Among his many famous poems are: Aunt Julia, the Basking Shark and Assisi. |
| Sir Alexander Mackenzie (1764-1839) | Born in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, Mackenzie emigrated to Canada and worked as an incredibly successful and adventurous fur trader. He was the first man to journey down the river which now bears his name, the famed Mackenzie River. |
| Iain Crichton Smith | One of Scotland's premier poets and literary masters, Smith was born in Glasgow in 1928 where he lived for two years before moving to the Isle of Lewis where he remained until he left for further education. He was brought up in a Gaelic speaking community and English was his second language. Highland and Island culture, landscape and history are diffused throughout his work. He often exclaims against the narrowness of the world in which he grew up in - specifically the teachings and influence of the Free Church, which had an extremely powerful grip over the society in which he was brought up in. |
| Calum MacDonald | Runrig drummer and songwriter, Calum MacDonald, was born in Lochmaddy, North Uist, in November 1953. Calum began his song-writing career entirely in English, because he thought that Gaelic was 'uncool' at the time! |
| The Macaulays | The Macaulay family from Uig in Lewis produced the anti-slavery campaigner Zachery Macaulay and historian Lord Macaulay. |
| Karen Matheson | Top Celtic band Capercaillie's lead singer was born and brought up in Oban, but it was from her Grandmother,a singer from the Isle of Barra in the Hebrides that Karen learned many of the traditional songs that have been the backbone of Capercaillie's material over the years. |
| The Macivers | This family from Uig on the Isle of Lewis founded "Cunard Line," the worldwide shipping company. |
| John Macleod | The former Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer came from the Isle of Lewis. |
| Colin Mackezie | Surveyor General of India, came from the Isle of Lewis |
