At this interesting stage it may be well to explain how the name Mackenzie came to be pronounced and written as it now is. John, the son of this Kenneth, would be called in the original native Gaelic, "Ian Mac Choinnich," John, son of Kenneth. In that form it was unpronounceable to those unacquainted with the native tongue. The nearest approach the foreigner could get to its correct enunciation would be Mac Coinni or Mac Kenny, which ultimately came to be spelt Mac Kenzie, Z in those days having exactly the same value and sound as the letter V; and the name, although spelt with a Z instead of a Y would be pronounced Mac Kenny, as indeed we pronounce in our own day, in Scotland, such names as Menzies, Macfadzean, and several others, as if they were still written with the letter Y. The two letters being thus of the same value, after a time came to be used indiscriminately in the word Kenny or Kenzie, and the letter z having subsequently acquired a different value and sound of its own, more allied to the letter S than to the original Y, the name is pronounced as if it were written Mackensie. Kenneth was the son and heir of Angus, the direct representative of a long line of ancestors up to Gilleoin na li'Airde, the common progenitor of the O'Beolan Earls of Ross, the Clann Ghille-Andrais, who about the end of the fourteenth century called themselves Rosses, and of the Mackenzies. The close connection by blood and marriage between the O'Beolan Earls of Ross and Kenneth's family before and after this period has been already shown, but the ancient ties of friendship had at this time become somewhat strained. Kenneth succeeded to the government of Ellandonnan Castle, which was garrisoned by his friends and supporters, the Macraes and the Maclennans, who, even at that early date in large numbers occupied Kintail. Kenneth, in fact, was Governor of the Castle, and was otherwise becoming so powerful that his superior, the Earl, was getting very jealous of him.