Lewis and Harris MacLeod, and those on Lewis being referred to as from the clan MacLeod of Lewis. Lewis is also the ancestral home of Clan Morrison. The Lewis chessmen is a famous collection of 12th-century chess pieces, carved from walrus ivory and mostly in the form of human figures, which were discovered in Uig in 1831. A major industry on the island is the production of Harris tweed fabric, which is handmade on the island; by law only fabric produced in the Outer Hebrides can be called Harris tweed. The Lewis Trilogy of novels ("The Blackhouse", "The Lewis Man" and "The Chessmen")
Isle of Lewis carried out in the Scottish Gaelic language. Almost all of the Gaelic speakers are bilingual. Most of the place names in Lewis and Harris come from Old Norse. The name "Lewis" is the English spelling of the Scottish Gaelic "Leòdhas" which comes from the Old Norse "Ljóðhús", as Lewis is named in medieval Norwegian maps of the island. Various suggestions have been made as to a Norse meaning such as "song house". The name is not of Gaelic origin, the Norse credentials are questionable and it may have a pre-Celtic root. As well as regularly playing host to the Royal