Dictionary of Family Names

WEMYSS.   First assumed by the proprietors of the lands anciently called Wemyss-shire, in Fife-shire, Scotland, which contained all that tract of ground lying between the lower part of the waters of Ore, and the sea.  These lands received their name from the great number of caves that are there, all along the sea-coast.  A cave in the old Gaelic or Celtic, was called vumhs or uamh; from that these lands received the name of Vumhs-shire—Wemys-shire.  The family of Wemyss derive their origin from the family of Macduff, Maormor of Fife, in the reign of Malcom Canmore.  The lands now forming the parish of Wemyss, are said to have been part of the estate of Macduff, Shakespeare's well-known Thane of Fife.