207 items

• Warden Surname: The Watch Hill, the Wardens of the Marches & the Name in Scotland

  Warden comes from the job of keeping watch or from an English place meaning the watch hill, not from the office that policed the Anglo-Scottish frontier. The 1249 treaty, March...

• Small History & Origins: James Small's Plough, Dirnanean & Scottish Heritage

  James Small's iron swing plough changed Scottish farming and he refused to patent it, dying poor in 1793. Plus the Old English root of the name, the Smalls of Dirnanean...

• Clan MacNicol: History, Motto & Origins on the Isle of Skye

  Clan MacNicol, also known as MacNichol, Nicolson, and Nicholson, is among the oldest native families of the Isle of Skye, with their heartland at Scorrybreac near Portree. Their motto —...

• Wylie History & Origins: A Scots Pet Form of William, Ayrshire, Sir James Wylie & the Wyllie Spelling

  Wylie is a Scots pet form of William, strongest in Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, with 3,236 bearers in 1901 and 2,002 more spelled Wyllie. Sir James Wylie served four Russian rulers;...

• Scottish Clan Battles: When Clans Fought Each Other — Harlaw, Inverlochy & the Great Rivalries

  Scotland's clans didn't only fight the English — they fought each other with equal ferocity. From Red Harlaw in 1411 to Inverlochy in 1645, inter-clan conflict shaped the Highlands as...

• Scottish Castles That Held the Crown Jewels

  The Honours of Scotland — the oldest surviving crown jewels in Britain — were hidden, smuggled, and concealed across centuries of conflict. The castles that held them, from Dunnottar to...

• MacCracken History & Origins: Mac Reachtain, Clan MacNaughton & the Antrim Crossing

  MacCracken is MacNaughton with one consonant changed. We follow Gaelic Mac Neachtain into Mac Reachtain, trace the Galloway and Antrim crossings, and separate the Belfast McCrackens from the American MacCrackens...

• Clan Brisbane History, Motto & Origins: Largs, Sir Thomas Brisbane & the City He Named

  Discover the history of Clan Brisbane — Largs Ayrshire origins, the motto Dabit Otia Deus, the Battle of Largs 1263, and Sir Thomas Brisbane soldier astronomer and Governor of New...

• Clan Boswell History, Motto & Origins: James Boswell, Auchinleck & Scottish Heritage

  Discover the history of Clan Boswell — Norman origins, Auchinleck House in Ayrshire, the motto Vray Foi meaning True Faith, James Boswell and his masterwork the Life of Samuel Johnson,...

• Clan Nicolson: History, Motto & Origins on the Isle of Skye

  Clan Nicolson of Scorrybreac on the Isle of Skye traces its name from the Gaelic Mac Neacail — son of Nicol — and its identity from the Norse-Gaelic world of...

• Scottish and Irish Baby Names and Their Meanings

  Explore Scottish and Irish baby names with meanings, Gaelic origins, and pronunciation notes, from Angus and Fiona to Aoife, Niamh, Oisín, and Saoirse.

• Clan MacNaughton: History, Motto & Origins in Argyll

  Clan MacNaughton are an ancient Argyll kindred rooted in the shores of Loch Fyne and Loch Awe, their seat at Dunderave Castle one of the finest tower houses in the...

• Clan Menzies: History, Motto & Castle Menzies in Perthshire

  Clan Menzies of Perthshire descended from Norman settlers who arrived in Scotland in the thirteenth century and established one of the most enduring clan presences in the central Highlands. Their...

• Lochleven Castle History, Mary Queen of Scots & the Prison on the Loch

  Lochleven Castle on its island in Kinross-shire is where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in 1567, forced to abdicate her throne, and from which she made her celebrated escape...

• Clan Learmonth History, Motto & Origins: Berwickshire, the Borders & Scottish Heritage

  The Learmonths were a Berwickshire family, their name bound to the fertile Merse country of the eastern Scottish Borders where the Tweed and its tributaries drain a landscape that has...

• Clan Bisset History, Motto & Origins: Highland Norman Roots, Exile & Scottish Heritage

  Discover the history of Clan Bisset — Norman origins in Inverness-shire, the motto Abscissa Virescit meaning Cut off but grows green again, the dramatic 1242 exile and loss of the...

• Clan Buchan History, Motto & Origins: Aberdeenshire, John Buchan & Scottish Heritage

  Discover the history of Clan Buchan — Aberdeenshire origins in the ancient Earldom of Buchan, the motto Non Inferiora Secutus, the Herschip of Buchan by Robert the Bruce, and John...

• Clan Cumming History, Motto & Origins: The Comyn Legacy, Badenoch & Scottish Heritage

  Discover the history, motto, and origins of Clan Cumming — descendants of the mighty Comyn family who once dominated medieval Scotland, whose destruction at the hands of Robert the Bruce...

• Clan Lundin History, Motto & Origins: Fife, Largo & Scottish Heritage

  The Lundins were a Fife family, their name drawn from the lands of Lundin in the parish of Largo on the East Neuk coast — a stretch of Fife shoreline...

• Clan Bannatyne History, Motto & Origins: Isle of Bute, the Bannatyne Manuscript & Scottish Heritage

  Discover the history of Clan Bannatyne — Isle of Bute origins, the motto Nec Cito Nec Tarde meaning Neither Quickly Nor Slowly, George Bannatyne and the priceless manuscript that saved...

• Scottish Surnames in America and the Scottish Diaspora: Heritage & Origins

  Discover how Scottish clan surnames spread across America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. From the Scots-Irish in Appalachia to Gaelic-speaking Cape Breton, explore the great waves of Scottish emigration and...

• Scottish Clans of the Jacobite Risings: History, Loyalty & Highland Legacy

  Discover the Scottish clans of the Jacobite risings — Cameron, MacDonald, MacPherson, Fraser, Murray, MacKintosh and more. Explore their loyalty to the Stuart cause, the battles they fought, and the...

• Traill History & Origins: Blebo in Fife, the Orkney Lairds & Traill's Flycatcher

  Traill begins with a 1435 Fife charter naming James Traill of Blebo and ends up an Orkney name: Holland on Papa Westray bought in 1637 and held to 1952, the...

• Fairlie History & Origins: The Ayrshire Barony, Fairlie Castle, Braid & the Fife Yacht Yard

  A younger son of the Rosses of Tarbert took his surname from a stretch of Ayrshire shore, built a tower above the burn, and lost it all by 1650. Four...