This surname of ASKER was rendered in Gaelic as MAC ASCAIDN, a personal name of Norse origin. The name was brought into England and Ireland in the wake of the Norman Invasion of 1066, and is now located in Tyrone and Derry. The name is also spelt MacASKIE. Ireland is one of the earliest sources of the development of patronymic names in northern Europe. Irish Clan or bynames can be traced back to the 4th century B.C. and Mac (son of) and O (grandson or ancestor of) evolved from this base, the original literal meaning of which has been lost due to the absence of written records and linguistic ambivalences which subtly but inexorably became adopted through usage. Genealogists and lexographers accept that the patronymic base does not refer to a location, quite the contrary. The use of the prefix 'Bally' (town of) attaching to the base name, identifying the location. The base root was also adopted by people residing in the demographic area without a common ancestor. These groups called 'Septs' were specially prevalent in Ireland. The first Normans arrived in Ireland in the 12th and 13th centuries to form an alliance with the King of Leinster. Under Elizabeth I in the 16th century, settlers from England established themselves around Dublin, then under English control and Presbyterian Scots emigrated to Ulster, introducing English and Scottish roots. Officially Londonderry, the county is still popularly called Derry. It was renamed, with the prefix 'London' added to its old name, in the reign of King James 1, when the former county of Coleraine, the towns of Coleraine and Derry and attached lands were made part of an ambitious plantation scheme in which most of the county was granted the City of London Companies for resettlement and development. The principal companies engaged in the scheme were the Clothworkers who got part of the borough of Coleraine, the Drapers in the region of Moneymore, the Fishmongers, obtained Ballykelly, the Goldsmiths a portion of the liverties of Derry, the Grocers, Muff and its environs; the Haberdashers got an estate around Aghadowey and Bovevagh, the Ironmongers got Aghadowey, the Mercers were allotted Kilrea, the Merchant Tailors, Mascosquin, the Salters, Magherafelt and the Vintners, Bellaghy.