On 19 June 1306 a man named Valence broke his word outside Perth and destroyed Robert the Bruce's first army, and no traced line of descent runs from him to the surname Valange.
Aymer de Valence, Edward I's lieutenant for Scotland, had been challenged to open battle and answered that the hour was too late. He attacked at dusk instead. Bruce unhorsed him in the first rush, was unhorsed himself, and was nearly taken before Sir Christopher Seton pulled him clear. The Scottish force scattered and the king went into the heather.
Why Aymer de Valence Is the Wrong Ancestor
It is the most famous appearance of anything like this name in Scottish history, which is why it misleads. Aymer was an Anglo-French magnate, Earl of Pembroke, king's lieutenant in Scotland in 1314. He fought there; he planted no family line. The name that did take root is Vallance, whose paperwork is older than Methven by a century and more.
Where Does Vallance Come From?
The Oxford-backed Dictionary of American Family Names makes it "English and Scottish: of Norman origin a habitational name from Valence in Drôme France named with Latin valentia 'strength capacity'", listing Valance, Valence, Vallans, Vallence, Volans and Vollans as variants.
Valange is not among them.
A second reference tells a different Scottish story, dating the name's arrival to 1174 with Philip de Valoniis, a hostage for William the Lion's release under the Treaty of Falaise, then Andrew Valence, bailie of Edinburgh in 1392, and James Vallance of Postle at Stranraer in 1689.
The two accounts do not agree. Valoniis is Valognes in Normandy, not Valence in the Drôme, and Philip de Valognes belongs to a separate documented line: Chamberlain of Scotland from 1165 to 1171 and from 1193 to 1214, lord of Panmure and Benvie, dead on 5 November 1215, his Panmure lands passing to the Maules of Angus. Folding him into Vallance is tidy rather than proven. Scotland absorbed many Norman incomers, and names as close as Colville and Corbet are told apart only by charter.
Is Valange a Scottish Spelling at All?
On the evidence reachable here, no Scottish record has been traced under that spelling.
Where it does appear, it is continental. A large genealogy database holds 1,257 individuals under Valange, and the attached records are Walloon and French: Marie Thérèse Joseph Valange marrying Jean Joseph Cohy in 1862, Gilles Joseph Valange marrying Marie Julienne Hamrelle in 1770. Vallange returns 339 from Aube in France, Valanse 23 from Aube and Paris. Not one Scottish entry.
Two readings stay on the table: a Franco-Belgian surname swept into Scottish name lists by resemblance, or a written variant of Vallance from a Scottish clerk's pen, which would place it in a family present in Scotland since the Middle Ages. The second better explains how the name reaches a Scottish catalog at all, but it is a reading rather than a derivation, and nothing traced here settles it. The Rouett and Rowat case is the same problem in Scots.
How Would You Test the Scottish Question?
- Search Valange, Vallange, Vallance, Valance, Valence and Valanse as one set. One genuine Scottish Valange entry would change the picture.
- Use phonetic and wildcard matching, not exact. The ScotlandsPeople search options exist for unstable spellings.
- Check the Walloon and French registers in parallel. If the line runs to Belgium or Aube rather than Ayrshire, better to know early.
- Do not let the battle do your genealogy. Methven has nothing to say about your descent.
Own a Piece of Valange Heritage
A name with no Scottish register entry of its own, one pen-stroke from a Norman family present in Scotland since the twelfth century, is an unusual thing to carry. Three pieces are made for it: a mug, a garden flag and a keepsake ornament in a silver-toned frame, all carrying the family crest above woven tartan. No chief, no clan organization and no pattern set aside for the name, so the cloth is a heritage design decision that our note on tartan custom explains.
Valange Family Crest Garden Flag with Tartan Detail
Frequently Asked Questions About the Valange Name
Is Valange a Scottish surname?
Not on any record traced here. Vallance, the name it most resembles, is Norman and has been in Scotland since the medieval period. Valange appears in Franco-Belgian records instead.
What does the name mean?
If it belongs with Vallance, it is habitational, from Valence in the Drôme, on Latin valentia, strength. That depends on the Vallance link, which present evidence points toward without settling.
Is there a Valange clan?
No chief of the name is recognized and no clan body exists. It sits with the Norman incomers, not the Highland families.
Sources and Further Reading
- Vallance in the Dictionary of American Family Names. The Drôme derivation and six variants, none of them Valange.
- Valange records. 1,257 individuals; Walloon marriages of 1770 and 1862.
- Vallange records. 339 individuals, from Aube in France.
- Vallance surname entry. The 1174 de Valoniis reading and later bearers.
- Philip de Valognes. Chamberlain of Scotland, lord of Panmure, died 5 November 1215.
- Battle of Methven. The broken promise and Bruce's escape.
- ScotlandsPeople: searching surnames. Fuzzy and phonetic searching.
A famous battle that belongs to somebody else, and a spelling still waiting for its first Scottish register entry. Valange designs are here.