1. What does the word "Machars" mean?
"Machair" is a Scots Gaelic word meaning "low-lying coastal plains". Here, it refers to the whole peninsula, from Newton Stewart southwards to Burrowhead. The "Machars" is often contrasted with "The Rhinns", the long peninsula west of Stranraer, whose name means "nose, promontory" in Gaelic. Together, these make up the major part of Wigtownshire.

2. Where does the word "Galloway" come from?
Traditionally, the word was said to derive from "Gall Gaidhail", the name for the raiding Norse of Irish descent, who came and settled this area from the sea. From this origin, the Gallovidians acquired a reputation, even in mediaeval times, for being warlike fighters, More recently, a scholar, Daphne Brooke ( author of "Wild Men and Holy Places" ) has questioned whether the word might derived from "Coedd Celidon", the native Brythonic words ( akin to Welsh ) for the ancient Caledonian Forest, which stretched into the South of Scotland. It now refers to the combined counties of Wigtownshire and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright.

3. Where does the name "Whithorn" come from?
The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon "Aet Hwitan Aerne", meaning "at the White House", supposed to derive from Bede's seventh century ? description of St. Ninian's church as being built of white-plastered walls and which he termed in Latin "Candida Casa". Other villages in the area have names of more modern origin, such as Garlieston, derived from the son of the Earl of Galloway, Lord Garlies, and Port William, a village planned by Sir William Maxwell of Monreith. Monreith, however, may betray an earlier origin, since it may, according to Daphne Brooke, derive from two Brythonic words meaning "Stone of Judgement".

Bibliography
For a good introduction to the history of the area, try any of the following :
Innes MacLeod, Discovering Galloway; Geoffrey Stell, Discovering Dumfries and Galloway, HMSO;C.H. Dick : Highways and Byways in Galloway and Carrick
On archaeology and mediaeval history : PH Hill : Whithorn, Excavation of a monastic town; Daphne Brooke : Wild Men and Holy Places; Richard Oram : The Lordship of Galloway and any of the Whithorn Lectures, held annually by the Friends of the Whithorn Trust and sold by the Whithorn Trust shop.
On Dumfries and Galloway poetry and literature Julia Muir Watt , A Literary Guide to Dumfries and Galloway; also, Dumfries and Galloway, a Literary Map; Innes MacLeod : Where the Whaups are Crying.