I HAVE bad news for Col Kennedy (Letters, April 28). I've never felt the need to acquire Black's Surnames of Scotland, but an admittedly cursory search of the Internet threw up the interesting information that the name Kennedy is from the Irish Gaelic cinneidigh, meaning Ugly Head.

Now I'm sure the Colonel is a fine figure of a man, so it just goes to show that your name doesn't necessarily mean much at all.

However, it appears undeniable that his ancestors left Ireland way back and settled in the ancient Kingdom of Dalriada, roughly the former Strathclyde Region, and that the Irish Scotti tribe later gave their name to the wannabe nation we are today.

Many of my own ancestors came from Ireland to Scotland, although, it must be said they are of a little more recent vintage than the Colonel's - and I'm prepared to bet there's no Hainey in Black's, either. I was none the less born in Falkirk, am undeniably Scottish, and descended from McEwans, whose Loch Fyne founding father Ewan the Otter - when it was presumably less socially embarrassing to admit such a thing - claimed descent from the ancient Kings of Ireland.

Casting doubt on Sean Connery's credentials to speak for Scotland because he has chosen to live abroad is one thing - to approach it from a point of view close to ethnic cleansing is quite another.

Mr Connery - no matter what the Colonel writes - lays good claim to being the most famous living Scotsman and has as much right to discuss the future of his homeland as anyone else, no matter what their ethnic origin or surname.

I am, of course, not sure of the Colonel's age, but I assume he's now happily retired in Castle Douglas. However, I'm sure he spent large parts of his working life abroad, perhaps Korea, Aden, almost certainly the former Federal Republic of Germany, maybe even Northern Ireland - where I'm sure he would have learned not all Irishmen ooze charm and wax lyrical.

But I'm sure no-one would ever suggest he's any the less Scottish for not always having been a resident here.

I myself am positively brimming with opinions about Scotland - which I'm happy to express from a tax-free sunshine island 3500 miles away. I left - like many other Scots - because I quite fancied seeing a bit of the world and, frankly, for economic opportunities undreamt of at home. And perhaps people should consider that fact before they cast their vote on May 6.

Raymond P Hainey,

The Royal Gazette, Hamilton,

Bermuda. April 26.

SO Lt-Col A J C Kennedy has ''blown out'' in condemning Sean Connery for expressing an opinion of Scottish politics simply because he has an Irish -ounding name. To what level has this debate sunk when we criticise people for expressing an opinion when their name suggests that they are not - what? True Scots? Who are these people, the True Scots?

Certainly not I who have a surname easily traceable to Ireland but am Scottish through and through.

I do not know what beneficial effect Mr Connery's intervention in the debate has had for the SNP - but I do not deny him, as a Scot, his right to say it. Surely in a democracy all of the people who have a vote are entitled to express their opinion - regardless of any inferred entitlement dictated by surname.

I see here from Irish Families, Their names, Arms, and Origins by Edward MacLysaght that ''Kennedy'' is from O'Cinneide - nephew of Brian Boru. That's something Irish, isn't it?

Well, as I said, all of the people who are entitled to vote should be able to have their say.

John Daly,

3 Flures Avenue, Erskine. April 29.

I DON'T have a copy of Black's Surnames of Scotland to refer to but I can think of several well-known Scots, past and present, with Irish-sounding names and there are numerous candidates for the Scottish Parliament and local authority elections on May 6 with Irish-sounding names and non-Scottish names. Exactly as it should be in a modern-day Scotland.

I trust Lt-Col A J C Kennedy is not suggesting that if your name doesn't appear in Surnames of Scotland you shouldn't be entitled to have an opinion on Scottish matters, stand for election, or even have a vote maybe. I hope not.

John G Hall,

33 High Street, Stewarton. April 28.

I TRUST the letter from Lt-Col Kennedy was a wind-up. I don't have a copy of the publication he names to hand, but if surnames are to be the criteria for having an interest in Scottish affairs it would presumably exclude all those with outlandish names like ''Singh'', ''Wong'', ''O'Connell'', and even . . .

Arthur Dillon

(SNP Candidate for Turriff West),

Knapperna Cottage, Udny, Ellon,

Aberdeenshire. April 28.