The Scottish Borders produced a world unlike any other in Scotland — and unlike anything in England either. The families who lived along the Anglo-Scottish frontier between roughly 1300 and 1600 existed in a state of almost perpetual low-level conflict, raiding across the boundary in both directions, feuding with neighbouring clans, and operating within a complex system of Border law that was distinct from the legal structures of either kingdom. These were the reivers — from an old word meaning to rob or plunder — and their names are still among the most common in the Border counties of both countries.
The reiving period was not simply lawlessness. It had its own codes, its own diplomacy, and its own economy. Cattle were currency. Alliances shifted constantly. Families that fought each other one decade might intermarry the next. Understanding the Border clans means accepting that the easy categories of loyalty and betrayal that apply in more settled societies do not quite work in the world of the reidswire and the night raid.
Border Clan Names at a Glance
The principal Scottish Border and reiver surnames include: Armstrong, Bell, Elliot, Graham, Haig, Hogg, Home, Irving, Jardine, Johnstone (Johnston), Kerr (Carr), Kirkpatrick, Little, Maxwell, Moffat, Nesbitt (Nisbet), Pringle, Riddell, Rutherford, Scott, Swinton, Tait, Trotter, Turnbull, Tweedie and Wedderburn. If you carry one of these names — in any spelling — your family story runs through the Anglo-Scottish frontier. Use the search bar above to find clan and family heritage gifts for your name.
The Great Border Families
Clan Armstrong of Liddesdale was the most feared of all the Border reiving families. At their height in the early sixteenth century, the Armstrongs could field several thousand horsemen and their Johnie Armstrong of Gilnockie — hanged by James V in 1530 in a calculated demonstration of royal power — became one of the great subjects of Border ballad tradition. The Armstrong name today is one of the most widely distributed Border surnames in both Scotland and the north of England.
Clan Kerr of Ferniehirst Castle near Jedburgh and Cessford Castle in Roxburghshire were one of the great Roxburghshire families, their two main branches — the Kerrs of Ferniehirst and the Kerrs of Cessford — as often in conflict with each other as with their neighbours. The Kerrs were noted in Border tradition for being predominantly left-handed, which is said to have influenced the design of Ferniehirst's spiral staircase. They eventually became Dukes of Roxburghe, one of the senior Scottish peerages.
Clan Scott of Buccleuch was the most powerful of the Border families by the later sixteenth century. Their chief held the wardenship of the Scottish Middle March, giving the Scotts an official role in the management of Border violence that also provided cover for their own activities. The dukedom of Buccleuch, created in 1663, remains one of the senior titles in the Scottish peerage, and the current Duke of Buccleuch is one of Scotland's largest private landowners.
Clan Home of Berwickshire held the eastern Borders, their ancient seat at Home Castle overlooking the Merse — the fertile agricultural plain between the Lammermuir Hills and the River Tweed. The Homes became Earls of Home and eventually Dukes of Hamilton's rivals in the east, and their battle cry — A Home! A Home! A Home! — is one of the most recognisable in Scottish clan tradition.
Reiver Families of Roxburghshire and Teviotdale
Clan Rutherford of Roxburghshire were a Teviotdale family of considerable antiquity, their name attached to lands along the Teviot and their history woven into the broader fabric of Border reiving culture. Clan Turnbull of Rule Water in Roxburghshire were another of the Middle March families, their origin legend — a Turnbull ancestor is said to have saved the king by turning aside a charging bull — giving the name a vivid place in Scottish folk tradition. Clan Pringle of Smailholm Tower near Kelso held lands in Roxburghshire for centuries, the tower itself one of the most evocative surviving peel towers in the Border landscape and an important influence on the young Walter Scott, whose grandmother's farm was nearby.
Clan Riddell of Riddell in Roxburghshire were among the older Norman-descended families of the eastern Borders, their name present in the documentary record from the twelfth century. The Rutherfords and Riddells both moved in the same Teviotdale world as the greater Scott and Kerr families, navigating the complex demands of Border life with a combination of negotiation and force that was the standard currency of the region.
The Western and Middle Borders
Clan Johnstone of Annandale was the great family of the western Borders, their centuries-long feud with the Maxwells one of the most sustained clan conflicts in Scottish history. The Johnstones held Lochwood Tower near Moffat, and their rivalry with the Maxwells reached its bloody peak at the Battle of Dryfe Sands in 1593 when the Johnstones inflicted a devastating defeat on their enemies, killing the Maxwell chief in the process. Clan Maxwell of Caerlaverock eventually recovered and the feud continued for decades more.
Clan Jardine of Applegarth in Dumfriesshire were Annandale neighbours of the Johnstones, their own history touching on the same world of Border raiding, feudal obligation, and survival politics that shaped all the western Border families. Clan Kirkpatrick of Closeburn Castle in Dumfriesshire are perhaps best known for the legend of Roger de Kirkpatrick, who is said to have made sure of the death of the Red Comyn after Robert Bruce stabbed him at Dumfries in 1306 — I'll mak siccar, meaning I'll make certain, became the family's motto.
Berwickshire and the Eastern March
Clan Haig of Bemersyde held one of the most continuously documented estates in Scotland, their connection to the Tweedside property confirmed by the prophecy of Thomas the Rhymer — Tyde what may, Haig shall be Haig of Bemersyde — and fulfilled in remarkable fashion right up to the return of Field Marshal Douglas Haig to the estate after the First World War. Clan Nesbitt of Berwickshire were an eastern Border family of considerable antiquity, their name connected to lands in the Merse and their history illustrative of the experience of gentry families in this most contested of Scottish landscapes.
Clan Swinton of Berwickshire is one of the oldest recorded families in Scotland, their documented presence in the Borders going back to the eleventh century. Clan Wedderburn held lands in the same county, their history representative of the Berwickshire gentry families who shaped the eastern March across many generations.
Peeblesshire, Selkirkshire, and the Inner Borders
Clan Tweedie of Tweeddale gave their name to the river that defines the central Borders landscape, their history rooted in the upper Tweed valley around Peebles and Broughton. Clan Hogg of Ettrick Forest in Selkirkshire gave Scottish literature one of its most original voices in James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, whose novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner is considered one of the masterpieces of early nineteenth-century fiction. The shepherd tradition of Selkirkshire shaped his writing as profoundly as the Border landscape shaped the families who had lived there for centuries.
The Border Legacy
The reiving period ended largely with the Union of the Crowns in 1603, when James VI of Scotland became James I of England and the political incentive for Border raiding dissolved almost overnight. The pacification of the Borders that followed was swift and often brutal, with many of the leading reiving families transported to Ulster as part of the Plantation — a displacement that created the Scots-Irish community whose descendants shaped American history in disproportionate ways.
The Border surnames — Armstrong, Scott, Kerr, Johnston, Maxwell, Elliot, Bell, Graham — appear today not only across Scotland and northern England but across the Ulster counties of Antrim, Down, and Armagh, and from there across North America, particularly in the Appalachian communities where Scots-Irish settlement was heaviest in the eighteenth century. The reiver tradition planted itself in the New World more thoroughly than almost any other current of Scottish emigration.
Frequently Asked Questions
What surnames are Scottish Border reiver names?
The best-known reiver surnames are Armstrong, Elliot, Scott, Kerr, Johnstone, Maxwell, Bell, Graham, Little, Irving, Moffat, Turnbull, Rutherford, Pringle and Home, along with the other Border families covered above. Many appear in multiple spellings — Johnston and Johnstone, Kerr and Carr, Nisbet and Nesbitt — all equally valid forms of the same names.
Why are Border surnames so common in Appalachia and the American South?
After the Union of the Crowns in 1603, many reiving families were transplanted to Ulster during the Plantation of Ireland. Their descendants — the Scots-Irish — emigrated to America in huge numbers through the eighteenth century and settled heavily in Pennsylvania, the Appalachian backcountry and the South. If your family is "Scots-Irish" with a name like Armstrong, Elliott, Bell or Johnston, the trail very likely runs Borders → Ulster → America.
Are Border families real clans?
The Borderers called themselves riding surnames or families rather than clans, but the structure — a chief, a heartland, collective loyalty and collective feud — was the same in practice, and the Court of the Lord Lyon today recognises Border families such as Armstrong, Elliot, Scott and Johnstone among the clans of Scotland. They have chiefs (or are armigerous), tartans and crests like their Highland counterparts.
Do Border names have tartans and family crests?
Yes — every major Border family has its own tartan and crest tradition, from Armstrong's Invictus Maneo to Johnstone's winged spur. Search your surname in the bar at the top of this page to see yours.
Carry a Border Name?
If your family carries one of these surnames, you can bring the frontier home: we make family crest woven blankets, mugs, garden flags, ornaments and more for every major Border name. Start with our dedicated gift guides for Armstrong and Graham, see how families display their crest at home, or — if your surname isn't an obvious clan name — check the A–Z Scottish sept list.
The Heritage Trio — a woven blanket for the sofa, a mug for the morning, a garden flag for the front of the house — keeps a Border name part of daily life, four centuries after the last raid. For the neighbouring families of the region, see our guides to the Clans of the Lowlands and the Clans of Ayrshire and Galloway — or start from the beginning with how to find your Scottish clan.
