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Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You asked for advice on choosing a late 16th century Scottish name, using the given name <James>, possibly expressing a relationship to the Camerons, or possibly using a geographical surname. Here is what we have found.
In your period, there were two main languages spoken in Scotland: Gaelic, which was spoken in the Highlands, and Scots, a language closely related to English, which was spoken in the Lowlands. Names were formed quite differently in the two languages, so the culture you choose for your persona will determine how your name should be constructed.
Our notions of the organization and structure of Scottish clans and septs are almost entirely modern. Clans did exist in the Highlands in your period, but they were quite different from today's clans. In particular, the idea that every surname is directly associated with a clan is modern. In fact, pre-1600 Gaels didn't use family names, clan names, or inherited surnames.
There was a Clan Cameron in the Highlands in your period, so your persona could be a Gaelic-speaking, Gaelic-named member of that clan. But a Gaelic name of this period did not include a clan designation; it usually consisted of a given name and a patronymic (i.e., <mac {father's name}>, meaning literally "<son of {father's name}>"). <James> is a Lowland name, so it would not be appropriate for a Highland persona. There is a Gaelic form of that name, <Seumas> [1]. An example of a Gaelic name appropriate to your period is <Seumas mac Eoin> meaning "Seumas, son of Eoin" and pronounced \SHAY-mahs mahk OAN\. Locative bynames like <of Lochiel> were almost unknown in Scottish Gaelic in your period, except in territorial, ecclesiastical, and chiefly titles (which are not appropriate models for Society names). You can find more information about Gaelic names in the article "Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames", available on the web at
http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/quick_gaelic_bynames.html
There was also a Cameron family in the Lowlands (though it was probably not thought of as a clan, and it was only vaguely related to the Highland Camerons), so your persona could alternatively be a Scots-speaking, Scots-named member of that family. Scots names of this period used inherited surname, but not clan names, per se. The surname <Cameron> was recorded in various forms in your period [1]:
Camproun (Perth, 1546)
Camroun, Camprone, Camrone, Campbroun (Perth, 1543-1549)
Calmeroune (Glasgow, 1605)
Camphron (1574)
Camrowne (1552)
Camrun (1598)
You could use any of these forms as your surname; <James Camroun>, for example, would be a fine 16th century Scots name.
Many 16th century Scots surnames derived from locative bynames, but by this time they had generally lost their locative meaning and were used as simple surnames without the preposition "of". <James Lanark> or <James Perth> would be fine Scots names for this period, but they would not have implied that James lived in Lanark or Perth [1]. Since Lochiel is in the Highlands, it is not a likely source for a Lowland surname.
I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Effrick neyn Kenneoch.
For the Academy,
Arval Benicoeur
References
[1] Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and
History, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986).