207 items

• Balfour Irish Surname: History, Origins & Heritage of a Fermanagh Family

  Balfour is a Scottish surname from Fife that entered Ireland through the Ulster Plantation, when the Balfours of Fermanagh built Castle Balfour at Lisnaskea in the early 1600s.

• The Battle of Sauchieburn 1488: The Rebellion That Killed a King & the Clans Who Chose Sides

  The Battle of Sauchieburn on 11 June 1488 was Scotland's only successful noble rebellion against a sitting king. James III was defeated near Stirling by a coalition of southern lords...

• Balfour Scottish Surname History: Fife Origins, a Murder & a Prime Minister

  Balfour traces to a Fife barony and spans a Tolbooth escape, the Balfours of Burleigh, and Prime Minister Arthur Balfour's 1917 Balfour Declaration.

• Crinan History & Origins: The Abbot of Dunkeld, Argyll & Scottish Heritage

  Crínán of Dunkeld died in 1045 and fathered a royal dynasty, but he did not father a surname. What the Irish annals really record, why his own parentage is unknown,...

• Coupar History & Origins: Cupar, Coupar Angus & the Cooper Question

  Coupar carries two documented origins. It is a place-name surname from Cupar in Fife or Coupar Angus in Perthshire, and it is also a recorded Scottish variant of Cooper. We...

• Stirling Castle History, Scottish Clans & the Royal Palace of the Stewarts

  Stirling Castle stands on a volcanic crag above the River Forth — the royal palace of the Stewart dynasty, the site of two coronations, the gateway between the Highlands and...

• Famous Americans with Scottish Clan Surnames — Is Your Family Name on This List? (2026)

  Explore which famous Americans had Scottish clan surnames — from presidents like Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson to inventors like Andrew Carnegie and Alexander Graham Bell — and what that...

• Clan Skirving: History, Motto & Origins in East Lothian

  The Skirving family of East Lothian were a Lowland Scottish surname family whose story runs from the catastrophe of Flodden to the radical politics of the 1790s, producing in a...

• Castle Fraser History, Clan Fraser Connections & Aberdeenshire Heritage

  Explore the history of Castle Fraser near Inverurie, from the Fraser family and the lands of Muchalls to Aberdeenshire heritage, tower-house architecture, and nearby Scottish surname connections.

• Scottish Clan Surnames That Came to America Through Ulster — The Scots-Irish Story (2026)

  Explore how Scottish clan surnames traveled to America through Ulster — the Plantation of Ulster, the Scots-Irish migration to the Appalachian backcountry, and how to tell if your Scottish surname...

• Why Did So Many Scots Emigrate to America, Canada and Australia?

  Explore the Clearances, work, family networks and assisted passages behind Scottish emigration to America, Canada and Australia, with sources for tracing your own family.

• Crathes Castle History, Clan Burnett Connections & Royal Deeside Heritage

  Explore the history of Crathes Castle near Banchory, from the Burnetts of Leys and Robert the Bruce to Royal Deeside, painted ceilings, and northeast Scottish heritage.

• Huntly Castle History, Clan Gordon Connections & Aberdeenshire Heritage

  Explore the history of Huntly Castle in Aberdeenshire, from the Peel of Strathbogie and Robert the Bruce to Clan Gordon, the Earls of Huntly, and northeast Scottish surname connections.

• Stirling Castle History, Scottish Clan Connections & Royal Legacy

  Explore the history of Stirling Castle, from the Wars of Independence and Robert the Bruce to the Stewart monarchs, Mary Queen of Scots, and Scottish clan connections.

• Clan Bell History, Motto & Origins: Border Reivers, Middlebie & Scottish Heritage

  Bell is a historic Scottish Border surname with deep roots in Dumfriesshire and Middlebie. Explore the 1587 West March record, I Beir the Bel, Bell tartan records, heraldry, and the...