207 items

• TAT-1 at Oban: The Cable That Put Voices Beneath the Atlantic

  On 25 September 1956, TAT-1 went into service between Oban and Newfoundland—the first transatlantic undersea telephone system and a turning point in global communication.

• Affleck Scottish Surname History: Ayrshire Roots & Angus Castles

  Affleck is the Scots form of Auchinleck, a Scottish place-name from Gaelic elements meaning roughly 'field or farm of the flat stone(s),' with historic Ayrshire and Angus associations.

• Craw History & Origins: Auchencraw, the Berwickshire Merse & Scottish Heritage

  The Craws of Berwickshire put crows on their shield for a place name that probably never meant crow. We follow the family from Auchencraw and its cadet branches to the...

• Carbery History & Origins: Crebarrin, Carberry Hill & Scottish Heritage

  The Scottish side of the Carbery name: the Crebarrin estate in the parish of Inveresk, the earliest recorded bearer around 1230, the surrender at Carberry Hill in 1567, and how...

• Clan MacFarlane: History, Motto & Origins on Loch Lomond

  Explore Clan MacFarlane’s Arrochar and Lennox origins, Pàrlan surname, Inveruglas and Island I Vow chronology, heraldic motto and dormant chiefship.

• Scottish Clans at Culloden: Who Fought, Who Survived & What Happened Next

  Discover the Scottish clans at Culloden — which clans fought for the Jacobites, which fought for the government, and what the battle meant for Highland clan society. History, losses, and...

• Young Surname History, Origins & Clan Young Today

  Young is a long-established Scottish surname meaning “young” or “junior,” with medieval records across Scotland. Explore its early forms, Young of Auldbar, the modern Clan Young Society, motto, current chief...

• Sligo Surname Origins: Pitsligo in Aberdeenshire, County Sligo & a Shelly Shore

  Sligo looks Irish and the records point elsewhere: 32 bearers in 1901 Scotland, none in the Irish census index, and a leading dictionary reading the name as a clipped Pitsligo...

• Bickerton Surname History: English Origins and a Later Scottish Presence

  Bickerton is an English place-name surname from Cheshire, with only a later, migration-era presence in Scotland rather than medieval Scottish roots.

• Glen History & Origins: Traquair in Peeblesshire, Barr Castle & Scottish Heritage

  Glen is a Gaelic word that became plain English, but the surname comes from named ground: the lands of Glen in Traquair, Peeblesshire, and the Glen tower at Barr in...

• Francis Beaufort: The Logbook That Gave the Wind a Shared Language

  Before modern wind speeds, Beaufort’s scale described what the wind did to a sailing ship. Follow the evolving system from a private logbook to marine forecasts.

• The Bloodiest Battles in Scottish History: Flodden, Culloden, Harlaw & Pinkie Cleugh

  Scotland has fought some of the most devastating battles in British history. Flodden killed a king and 10,000 soldiers. Pinkie Cleugh became Black Saturday. Red Harlaw ran with blood. Culloden...

• Thoms History & Origins: Dundee, Sheriff Thoms & the Clan MacThomas Connection

  Thoms is a clipped patronymic from Thomas that the Clan MacThomas Society calls "peculiar to the area around Dundee in Angus." Two provosts, a contested will and why Thoms is...

• Storie History & Origins: Old Norse Stóri, the Storrie Spelling & Elizabeth Storie of Glasgow

  Storie is the Scottish face of a name the dictionaries file under Story, from the Old Norse byname Stóri, the big one. Why Scottish clerks preferred Storie and Storrie, and...

• Clan MacAlister History, Motto & Origins: Kintyre, Loup & Scottish Heritage

  Clan MacAlister is one of the ancient Gaelic kindreds of the Scottish western seaboard, their name meaning son of Alasdair and their lineage tracing through Somerled — the twelfth-century warrior-king...

• Clan Bain History, Motto & Origins: Gaelic Roots, Highland Associations & Scottish Heritage

  Discover the history of Clan Bain — Gaelic descriptive origins meaning fair or white, the motto Et Marte et Arte meaning By strength and by skill, Highland associations, Alexander Bain...

• Butter Surname History: Perthshire Roots, Buttar Variants and Gormack

  Butter is a genuinely Scottish surname of long standing in Perthshire, also recorded as Buttar and Buter, with historical connections to Gormack.

• Clan Whitefoord: History, Motto & Origins in Ayrshire

  Clan Whitefoord of Ayrshire take their name from the estate of Whitefoord in Kyle and their motto Ubique Aut Nusquam — Everywhere or Nowhere — from a tradition of total...

• Dunollie Castle History, Clan MacDougall & the Ancient Lords of Lorn

  Dunollie Castle above Oban Bay has been the seat of the MacDougall clan since the medieval period — a ruined tower house on a headland overlooking the Firth of Lorn,...

• Forrest Surname History: Origin, Meaning and Family Connections

  A carefully sourced guide to the Forrest surname: meaning, origins, geography, variants, genealogy and honest clan and heraldry context.

• Clan Gordon History, Motto & Origins: Huntly Castle, the Catholic Earls & Scottish Heritage

  Clan Gordon is documented in Berwickshire from 1160 before the family’s rise at Strathbogie and Huntly. Explore the chiefship, Huntly Castle, the Bydand motto and the clan’s recorded Scottish history.

• Clan Kirkpatrick History, Motto & Origins: Closeburn, Robert the Bruce & Scottish Heritage

  Few clan stories in Scottish history hinge on a single sentence the way Clan Kirkpatrick's does. The family takes its name from the parish of Closeburn in Dumfriesshire, where a...

• Stronach History & Origins: Gaelic Sròn, the Aberdeenshire and Banffshire Heartland & a George Cross at Tripoli

  Stronach is Scottish and Gaelic-rooted, from srònach, built on sròn, a nose. Four centuries of records place it in Aberdeenshire, Banffshire and Moray, from a Boharm kirk session minute of...

• Don History & Origins: Dun in Angus, Newton Don & Scottish Heritage

  Everyone assumes the Don surname comes from the Aberdeenshire river. The reference works say Dun in Angus. We weigh both, separate Don from Donald, and follow the Dons of Newton...