Gunn is a Scottish name; my name is Gunn; therefore I am Scottish.

First premise true; second premise true; conclusion false.

The reason that the conclusion is false is the implicit assumption that the first premise: "Gunn is a Scottish name" means all "Gunns" are Scottish: a trap I fell into as a boy.

Gunn Clan

As a schoolboy, I discovered that the name "Gunn" inevitably attracted attention: schoolmates made witty observations such as "Tommy" Gunn and "bang bang"; teachers, amongst others, made obscure references to cricketers and portrait painters before informing me that my surname was of Scottish derivation and, apropos of Treasure Island, I was inevitably christened Ben.

Incidentally, Ben was a nickname that I wore as easily as my Christian name and stayed with me from my schooldays and half of my working life until the foul cancer of political correctness took hold and nicknames were unilaterally pronounced to demean & humiliate such as the Bomber Mills and Chalky Whites of my youth.

Gunns Essex

I assumed, not unnaturally given that I was a good boy & accepted that adults always knew better, that I must have Scottish ancestry.

So far, my research has not uncovered a Scots Connection and experience shattered any illusions I had about adult superiority long before I grew out of short trousers.

It is possible that, for at least three hundred years, my forefathers, with one exception, were born - and spent their lives - in the same area of Essex around Takeley, Little Easton and Hatfield Broad Oak.

At the end of the 19th century my great grandfather left Essex for Enfield, where most of us remained until after the Second World War.

Gunn, Son of William