African-American heritage of presidents of the United States
Calvin Coolidge's mother Victoria Moor was claimed to be of a mixed-race family in Vermont. Vaughn noted that her surname was derived from "Moor", a European term for people of North Africa. He did not note that another meaning of her surname is the landscape feature of moor or bog. People's surnames were often based on such landscape features when surnames became generally adopted in 14th century England. Moor/Moore is a common name in England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Morrison (surname)
Secondly, there is the commercially promoted myth that the origin of the name Morrison in Scotland somehow involves Vikings. The myth suggests the Morrisons came from the Isle of Lewis and are of Viking origin.[9] This myth joins other Scottish fabrications such as Hector Boece’s (c1465-c1536) Historia Gentis Scotorum (History of the Scottish People), James Macpherson’s (1736-1796) Ossian "discovery" and the imposter Sobieski brothers (really John and Charles Allen) Vestiarium Scoticum who passed themselves off as grandsons of Bonnie Prince Charlie.[10]. Not only is the viking association an invention, so also is the proposition the name originated in Lewis.[11] The name Morrison as shown in the historical records was already in northern England and the Scottish lowlands two hundred years before some families on Lewis saw the opportunity to adopt a new name.
[1] See George F Black (1946), p 612.