Towards a List of Clans and Families in Scotland—Identity Politics, Cultural Appropriation and Romantic Idealism

Abstract

The question of which Scottish surnames constitute a Clan and which do not is hotly contested. It is wrongly felt, especially in the Scots-abroad communities, that Clan is somehow of higher status than “Family” or “House” and/or applies to everyone of Scottish heritage. Opinions and assertions are on a spectrum between two absolutes: (a) “everyone in Scotland is in a Clan, and everyone should wear kilts and tartans”; to (b) “Clans disappeared in the 18th century and there is no point clinging to a Romantic notion with no modern relevance”. Historically, the Clan is a phenomenon of the Gaelic-speaking Highlands and Islands and was not found as a social structure in the Lowlands; the Southern Uplands (Scottish Borders) are a special case. The “everyone” persuasion leads to cultural nonsenses such as Lowland-ancestry Scots abroad forming “Clan” Societies and adopting Highland dress. Scots overseas are looking for an authoritative statement as to whether their surname constitutes a Clan, a family, or some other nomenclature. Yet, there is no official or agreed historically based list of who are Clans and who are not. There is no such list—or a formula by which an answer can be derived. This essay is intended as a step towards that. Also, the non-historical concept of “Septs” is dismissed.

1. Introduction

1.1. Not Every Surname in Scotland Constitutes a Clan

There is a mistaken and historically/culturally inauthentic assertion that “everybody in Scotland is in a clan”. The assumption of the term “Clan” by non-Highland surname societies skews the authentic history and culture of Scotland. But why does this matter?

• The cultural appropriation of Highland garb by Lowlanders began as a fashion around the time of the visit by King George IV to Scotland in 1822, and was reinforced by: Queen Victoria’s and Prince Albert’s passion for all things Highland; the novels of Sir Walter Scott over-emphasising of the “noble savage” aspect of Highlanders; the marketing practices of tartan weavers and sellers; the Romanticising of Highland culture in popular media; and the “blind eye” attitude of Scotland’s tourism and inward investment bodies. This is fairly harmless in on its own, but it is compounded with the following.
• The overlaying of Highland culture onto the Lowlands dilutes the importance of the Lowlands; consequently, the dominant historical and cultural role of non-Highland Scotland is ignored.
• As the website of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs (SCSC) says:
  “The growing assumption that every person recognised as a chief means that they must have a clan, though neat, is a false friend. A chief can as well be head of a family—highland, lowland (north or south) or borders—as head of a clan. And to deny that there is as much pride in bearing the name of a distinct family, or House, as of a clan is misplaced. The now fashionable pursuit of trying to turn any Scottish name into a clan risks devaluing all. It undermines and fails to respect the distinctions that run through Scottish history; and in the end, seeks to replace that history through “clan creation”. False history: false romance. Much of this may be driven by commercial considerations; though not all. To use the famous caveat, itself from the world of commerce: Beware Imitation.”
  The shorthand for this is: Robert Burns never wore a kilt.
• Possibly most important of all…
  Scots overseas are looking for an authoritative statement as to whether their surname constitutes a Clan, a family, or some other nomenclature. Without such a list—or at least a formula by which an answer can be derived—they feel let down by the various bodies routinely asked—the Standing Council (SCSC), the Lyon Office, VisitScotland and the wider Scottish Government.

In the absence of such things, the field is wide open for anyone to claim virtually anything—precisely what these bodies claim to wish to avoid.

1.2. Scottish Games Overseas

Scottish games and gatherings (variously named) are remarkably popular phenomena everywhere Scots have settled across the globe. These are patterned on games which have been held in Scotland ever since the first in 1314 at Ceres, Fife and are still going annually.1 Games were revived in 1781 at Falkirk in anticipation of the lifting2 of the 1746 Proscription Act against the wearing of Highland Dress3 (essentially, the kilt and tartan plaid).4 The revival of Highland costume accelerated after the visit of King George IV to Edinburgh in 1822, organised by Sir Walter Scott. His Majesty dressed in Highland garb (the kilt worn over pink hose!) which, along with the popularity of Scott’s novels set in Scotland, started a fashion for all things Scottish. This included many “ancient” traditions more or less invented on the spot, and a surge in the manufacture of tartanwear with new patterns, many claiming to be “traditional”. (See “Sir Water Scottery”, below.)

The best known such event in Scotland is the Braemar Gathering5, which typically has members of the Royal family in attendance from their Summer residence in nearby Balmoral.6

Modern games generally have a familiar mix of competitive events such as athletics and “heavy games”, (caber-tossing, keg and/or sheaf toss, tug-o‘-war, stone shot-put, Scottish hammer throw, etc.), plus Highland dancing, bagpipe and drums competitions (solo and bands) and sheepdog trials. There are vendor tents selling local and Scottish-related merchandise and books, food and drink stalls, whisky tastings, musical performances, and often talks and workshops, plus attractions for children.

The concept spread to North America with waves of Scots emigrants, starting with a games held in 1836 in New York, followed by two in 1866 organised by The Caledonian Club in San Francisco and the St Andrews Society of Detroit, both of which are still continuously running. Now there are said to be over 200 games and gatherings held annually outside of Scotland, in the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere. A display of Highland games at the 1889 Paris Exhibition may have inspired Baron Pierre de Coubertin to revive the Olympic Games (Horne 2010).

The best-attended such event in Scotland is held at Cowal, Dunoon each August, which attracts some 3500 competitors and around 23,000 spectators. Most games in Scotland are far smaller than this, in the low thousands, and usually drawn from a largely local catchment. But most pale into insignificance against the giants overseas—and those in America and Canada are particularly well-attended. There were 17,000 at the 2022 San Diego Highland Games; Grandfather Mountain Games in North Carolina sees 30,000–40,000 attendees;7 the New Hampshire Highland Games & Festival at Loon Mountain Lincoln, NH attracts over 35,000 annually; and the event in Pleasanton, California in 2015, welcomed a record crowd of almost 50,000. 8 In Canada, The Glengarry Highland Games held annually in Maxville, Ontario since 1948, usually has an attendance of over 20,000,9 and the even older Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games in Ontario (first held in 1946) had almost 28,000 attendees at its 80th anniversary in 2025.

However, games have a wholly different aspect in countries other than Scotland. In particular, they feature “Clan Tents” erected by “Clan” Societies (see below for why these terms are in quotes). The Societies take the opportunity to display lists of “Septs”—surnames supposedly but spuriously linked to that Clan—as a recruiting inducement. There is a “parade of tartans” or “parade of the clans”, where members of such societies march around the games field carrying banners of relevant tartan and heraldic insignia. These parades have recently become a feature of some games in Scotland, in emulation of the North American versions. Societies often take the opportunity to hold their Annual General Meetings at these events.

Every aspect of Scottishness is tied to a be-tartaned subculture that the naïve observer might assume is general to and reflective of Scotland as a whole. However, what it gains in colourful flamboyance and exuberance it lacks in authenticity. Fueled by fictions and quasi-histories such as Brigadoon,10 Braveheart,11 and the Outlander books and TV series,12 the vision of Scotland portrayed at such games and gatherings is, in the words of Sir Malcolm MacGregor, chief of Clan Gregor and at the time Convenor of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, “the stuff of kilts and cabers, but it is the Scotland those not living in Scotland want it to be”. He could have added “…and never was”. Brown (2012) devised the useful term “tartanism” for this overseas appropriation of tartan, kilts and the Highlands as “ethnic-identity markers”, but largely untethered to the originating Scottish culture (Brown 2012). Then there is the related concept of “tartanry” or “Balmorality”—sentimental, kitsch mock-Scottishness originating in the Walter Scott-influenced tourism trade in the 18th and 19th centuries and polished to a high gleam by—it must be said—Scottish variety shows from Harry Lauder13 to Scottish Television.14

1.3. Sir Water Scottery

An explication of the role of Sir Walter Scott’s novels of the Highlands is in order here. Scott (1771–1832) was by profession an advocate (a trial lawyer in Scotland, equivalent to an English barrister) and legal administrator, who combined his work as Clerk of Session and Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire with writing and editing. He came to prominence with his narrative poem The Lady of the Lake (Scott 1810) set in the Trossachs region of Scotland and concerning the war between the Lowland Scots (led by King James V) and the Highland Clans (led by the fictional Roderick Dhu of Clan Alpine). This influential poem almost single-handedly inspired the Highland Revival through the nineteenth century. Canto V in particular lays out the contentions a prototypical Highlander (Roderick Dhu, the outlawed chief of a fictional Clan Alpine,) and a Lowlander (King James V of Scotland travelling incognito)15 have with each other. Scott intended this work to do for the Highlands what his earlier work The Lay of the Last Minstrel had done for the Borders, and made a clear distinction between the Highlands (which had Clans) and Lowlands (which did not). Scott went on to publish the immensely successful series of 26 Waverley novels (1814–1831), among the most popular and widely read fictional works read in Europe and the English-speaking world for almost a century. However, Scott did not acknowledge authorship publicly until 1827. Not all of the Waverley novels deal with Scotland, although those that do set a vision of the Highlands that endures to this day—for example, ‘Tis Sixty Years Since (1814), the long narrative poem set in the run-up to the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 The Lord of the Isles (1815), A Legend of Montrose (1819) and Rob Roy (1818).

Added to this, Napoleon was trampling across Europe from 1796 to 1815, so the Grand Tour and visits to Rome, Athens, Egypt, etc. were out of the question. The obvious replacements were tours of the Scottish Highlands. Unlike the days when William and Dorothy Wordsworth had to travel to and around the Highlands in a two-wheeled horse-drawn cart (Wordsworth 1803), the growth of the railways in the 1840s spurred the growth in a form of “Highland Theme Park” travel.16 Travel entrepreneur Thomas Cook (1808–1892) organised his first railway tours to Scotland in 1851, where the locals joined in by adopting Highland garb from more than a century before and playing up to the Scott-inspired Romantic vision of the noble savage (Brendon 2004).

By this time the Highland Society of London had been in full swing since its founding in 1778 by Highland gentlemen resident in London, and had its status confirmed by an Act of Parliament in 1816.17. The Society drove the Highland Revival by a number of related achievements:

• Securing in 1782 the repeal of the Dress Act 1746 (a statutory proscription of Highland Dress, introduced by a way of government retaliation for the Jacobite rising of 1745);
• Establishing an extensive (supposedly definitive) collection of Clan tartans;
• Helping to publish but also initiating investigations into the poems supposedly by Ossian—these are now known to be largely composed by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, in some cases based on oral collecting from contemporary sources.

Scott was active in the Scottish equivalent, the Highland Society of Edinburgh, founded in 1784, but originally aimed mainly at agricultural improvements.18

Scott brought all this together when he stage-managed the spectacular, comprehensive pageant in the 1822 around the visit of the newly enthroned George IV to Scotland in a mere three weeks. In this (and as described below) Scott created a ceremonial dress out of the very costume effectively banned in the previous century, and somehow persuaded at least the aristocratic strata of society that these were somehow symbols of a generalised “Scottish” identity.

The influence of Walter Scott in America has also been noted, especially in the Southern states, not least by Mark Twain. He lampooned Scott’s writings, for example stating in 1883 (albeit humorously) that Scott “had so large a hand in making Southern character, as it existed before the [American Civil] war” that he was “in great measure responsible” for that conflict (Twain 1883). Twain’s description of “Sir Walter Scott disease” encompassed: respect for an aristocracy that America did not have but Old Scotland possessed in great measure; social acceptance of vendettas, blood-feuds and duels; and a zest for Romanticism and fantasy. Twain lays the blame for the South’s lack of advancement firmly at an undue adherence to Scott’s writing as if they were actual history (rather than quasi-historical fiction) and went so far as to name a sinking boat in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) the “Walter Scott”. Two quotes from Life on the Mississippi (pp. 467–68) make Twain’s point:

“Sir Walter Scott is probably responsible for the [Louisiana] Capitol building; for it is not conceivable that this little sham castle would ever have been built if he had not run the people mad, a couple of generations ago, with his mediaeval romances. The South has not yet recovered from the debilitating influence of his books. Admiration of his fantastic heroes and their grotesque “chivalry” doings and romantic juvenilities still survives here.”

“Then comes Sir Walter Scott with his enchantments, and by his single might checks this wave of progress, and even turns it back; sets the world in love with dreams and phantoms; with decayed and swinish forms of religion; with decayed and degraded systems of government; with the sillinesses and emptinesses, sham grandeurs, sham gauds, and sham chivalries of a brainless and worthless long-vanished society. He did measureless harm; more real and lasting harm, perhaps, than any other individual that ever wrote. Most of the world has now outlived good part of these harms, though by no means all of them; but in our South they flourish pretty forcefully still.”

1.4. Exporting Scottishness

Paterson (2001) in his PhD thesis suggested that faux-Scottishness affords the descendants of migrants a ready access to a culture and heritage more meaningful than their own experience—usually a handful of recent generations with no real roots. Yet this Highland-centric and be-tartaned view of Scotland and Scottishness ignores the majority culture and population of Scotland—the Lowlands—as exemplified by the works of Robert Burns and others, which has no vestige of the Gaelic-speaking Highlands. This leads to non sequiturs such as Lowlands families having the term “Clan” attached to their Societies when the surname was never a Clan nor ever stemmed from the Highlands and Islands.

All of the foregoing brings us to the point of this essay: How can anyone discover whether their surname is that of Highland Clan or a Lowland Family/House/etc.? There is no official list of Clans vs. Families. Bodies who, one might think, would originate and maintain such a list have never done so. This includes: the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs (SCSC, whose membership includes chiefs of families and Clans, as discussed at Section 2.5, below); VisitScotland, the official tourism body for Scotland (who would perhaps rather not upset the sensitivities of potential visitors); the Scottish Government (whose website for this purpose also reads as if there are only clans in Scotland, and makes some dubious claims—the statement “In Scotland a clan is still a legally recognised group with an official clan chief. The chief’s Seal of Arms, incorporated by the Lord Lyon’s letters Patent” contains three obvious errors)19.

There are maps like that in Figure 1, but they are invariably partial and time-bound. Bodies outwith Scotland continue to lump every Scottish surname possible into one silo labelled “Clans”—for an example, see the relevant page on COSCA (the Council of Scottish Clans & Associations, an umbrella membership body for Societies, largely based in the United States of America).20 Scottish Heritage USA refers only to Clans.21

1.5. The Lord Lyon and the Lyon Court22

It should be made clear here that Highland Clans and Lowland Families alike may have chiefs, recognised as such legally by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, although Clans and families themselves have no legal definition. Nor is it the case, as incorrectly stated by a previous Lord Lyon, Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, that a Clan is a “noble incorporation”, as it is not an incorporation of any sort, being without legal personality.23

For those unfamiliar with Scots heraldry and the place of the Lord Lyon in this, the following is a brief description. First, there is often confusion between Arms and Crest. The Arms usually consist of a shield, with a helmet above bearing a crest and above that a motto. We often refer to the shield alone as the “Arms” but in no sense is that synonymous with “crest”. Even more mistakenly, the term “family crest” is used when in fact referring to Arms or the shield. In Scotland, a Coat of Arms is a legal, personal, individual, heritable piece of “real” property (in the same sense as “real estate” and may only be borne by one person (or incorporated body) at a time. There is no such thing as a “family Coat of Arms” in Scotland, and the depiction of such on the internet and in popular books is misleading and occasionally illegal. For example, a wooden plaque bearing a shield and labelled “Campbell” may adorn many a fireplace, but the Arms in fact likely belong to the Duke of Argyll and not to any member of his Clan. The Lord Lyon may impose and exact penalties on anyone “pretending” to the Arms of someone else—including the chief of your own surname—ranging from fines and confiscations to imprisonment. It is, in fact and in law, theft.

In Scotland, Arms are regulated by statute law and overseen by the Lord Lyon, who incorporates three functions in one:

• a judge in his own court (the Lyon Court);
• a Minister of State with the administrative responsibility for managing heraldry and certain ceremonial matters;
• the King’s representative in Scotland in all matters heraldic, processional, ceremonial, etc.

The current incarnation of the Lyon Court, and the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland which it keeps, have had an unbroken existence since 1672—although the office and functions of a “Lyon Herald” are documented as far back as the time of Robert Bruce, who lived 1274 to 1329 and reigned from 1306. Currently, the Lyon Court has a Lyon Clerk, three Heralds in Ordinary, three Pursuivants in Ordinary, various Extraordinary Heralds and Pursuivants plus other officials, and office staff. Note that the Lord Lyon is not a “Lord” in the sense of having a peerage (although historically some have, personally), as is the case with other Scottish judicial titles: for example, the senior law officer in the Scottish government is the Lord Advocate, who currently is a female, The Right Honourable Dorothy Bain, KC.24

To get Arms, someone would have to prove Scottish ancestry, or be born or domiciled in Scotland (or certain other mechanisms) and petition the Lord Lyon, with full documented proofs. Arms are all about surname, so a Campbell would get Arms which are recognisably Campbell, but different from every other Campbell Arms. To be a chief, Lyon has to award the person the undifferenced Arms and recognise him or her as Chief of Name and Arms. This could be simple process—the current chief dies, and his or her successor inherits the Arms and the chiefship. Usually this is the eldest son, or failing sons the eldest daughter, but also possibly the nearest relative heir who bears the same surname or is prepared to change surname. This happens frequently. Failing a near heir, the claimant has to prove his or her senior descent from a previous chief—this can be after a number of years or even generations, as in the case of Clan Buchanan who had a chief recognised after a hiatus of 337 years.25 There may be multiple claimants, in which case Lyon will weigh their respective claims and proofs and adjudicate.

If there is no provable “genealogical chief”, the clan or family has to organise a Family Convention, supervised by the Lyon Court, to choose a commander, who will serve for at least 10 years and whose primary functions are to keep the clan or family together while searching for a chief candidate. If successful, another Family Convention is held at which a chief candidate is chosen and presented to Lord Lyon for recognition as Chief of Name and Arms.26 However, it is not the place of the Lord Lyon to determine which surnames are clans, which are families, etc. Note that the chief of a clan and the chief of a family have exactly the same status and are recognised by the same mechanism. Once recognised, that chief may apply (or be invited) to join the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs (SCSC), or may choose not to join. This does not affect the status of that chief, nor does the SCSC dictate whether the appellation is clan, family, house, or whatever.

The wider world of Scots ancestry would like the SCSC or the Lyon Court to produce a list of which surnames are Clans and which are families, or at least provide a method of determining this. Neither is currently prepared to do so.

This is precisely the dilemma faced by Clans and families, surname societies, organisers of games and gatherings, book and website compilers et alia—who is and who is not a “clan”? Wikipedia, for example, has decided (or been persuaded) that every Scottish surname may have “clan” prefixed to it, and that “clans” are a feature of the Highlands, Lowlands and Borders alike. This is as inaccurate as it is unhelpful.

2. Results

In order to generate a reasonable list of Clans vs. Families as attempted later in this paper, it is necessary first to define Highlands (and Islands), Lowlands, and Borders. The Clan is a cultural, historic and linguistic phenomenon—a territorial/kinship/quasi-military social structure of the Highland and Islands, and to an extent the Borders area (B. C. Durie 2022). The Lowlands never had any Clan-type structure. It is the most populated of Scotland’s three geographical regions, mainly agricultural and industrial, home to the major cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dunfermline, Stirling, Perth and Dundee and to over 75% of Scotland’s population.

2.1. Defining Highlands, Lowlands and Borders

This depends on an understanding of the geotopography of Scotland and its division into the Highlands and Islands in the north and west, the central Lowlands, and the Borders plus Dumfries and Galloway in the south (see Figure 2).

2.1.1. The Highland Boundary Fault

The Highlands are famously mountainous and scarred by deep glens carved by glaciers on their way to the seas on three sides, leaving behind Scotland’s great rivers and sea-lochs. The Highlands are—in the simplest telling—the area north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault. This geological fault runs from Stonehaven, Kincardineshire in the east to Helensburgh on the River Clyde in the west, and bisects the Isle of Arran. On its way, it passes through Dunkeld and Birnam, then Aberfoyle, and through Loch Lomond to the Firth of Clyde.

The faultline runs though Perthshire, but taking an all-or-nothing view leads to possible anomalies: no-one would doubt that Callander is by its nature Highland, but the city of Perth itself is Lowlands by geography, history and culture. Likewise, the Angus towns of Brechin, Kirriemuir, etc. Stirling and Dunblane are Lowland, but northern Stirlingshire is Highland. A purist might that therefore say the Lowlands includes Kintyre, Campbeltown, Bute and the lower portion of Arran, but these are so firmly bound to the rest of Argyll that they are usefully considered Highland.

A term commonly encountered is Gàidhealtachd.27 This is usually translated as “Gaeldom”, and while it is originally a linguistic definition (“the land of Gaelic-speakers”), it is understood in Scotland to refer to the Gaelic-speaking areas of the Highlands and Islands. It is not interchangeable in strict terms with “Scottish Highlands”, used administratively by (inter alia) the Highland Council (Comhairle na Gàidhealtachd) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (Iomairt na Gàidhealtachd ‘s nan Eilean), who also recognise the Western Isles Council (Comhairle nan Eilean Siar) plus Orkney Islands Council (Comhairle Arcaibh) and Shetland Islands Council.28 The term Gàidhealtachd is also applied to Gaelic-speaking people and places outwith the council areas of Highland, Argyll and Bute and the Outer Hebrides, such as the Isle of Arran, parts of Perthshire, as well as North Carolina, Nova Scotia, and elsewhere with significant Gaelic in-migration. Gàidhealtachd also refers to any region where Scottish Gaelic is spoken as a first language by a substantial part of the population, although many parts of the Highlands no longer have substantial Gaelic-speakers, and other parts have long been Scots-speaking, such as Grantown-on-Spey or Cromarty.

2.1.2. The North-East Anomaly

Less easy to categorise are the counties of Aberdeenshire, Kincardineshire, Banffshire and Buchan, and the district of Moray. The culture is definitely Lowlands. The inhabitants speak Doric, the dominant dialect of Scots in the area. The topography is a low, coastal strip continuing up beyond Aberdeen to rural farming areas such as Formartine in Buchan, and round by the Moray Firth. Almost no-one in Aberdeenshire considers their locality to be Highland (the author now lives in Aberdeenshire and can attest to this). One has to travel a substantial distance west before encountering a sign saying “Welcome to the Gàidhealtachd”.29

Figure 2. The Highland Boundary Fault. Map courtesy of the British Geological Survey.30

Figure 2. The Highland Boundary Fault. Map courtesy of the British Geological Survey.30

2.1.3. The Lowlands

The Southern Uplands Fault31 runs from Girvan (or more specifically from the Rhins of Galloway) to Dunbar on the East coast. It marks the southern boundary of the Scottish Midland Valley, which contains the major population centres—Edinburgh (the capital), Glasgow (the largest city) and Dundee. Aberdeen is further north, and Inverness is generally considered Highland.

2.1.4. The Borders, or Southern Uplands32

Strictly speaking, this refers to three modern administrative Districts—Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, and Roxburgh District. But it is understood to comprise the historical counties of the Eastern and Middle Marches—Berwick, Roxburgh, Selkirk, and part of Peeblesshire (which does not actually touch the border with England). See below for the West March. Geographically, the Borders is distinct from the Highlands and the adjacent Lowlands. It has a mixture of high, bleak moorland suitable for hardy sheep and cattle, plus craggy glens and ravines suitable for hiding stolen livestock; in the northern part there are valleys and dales and tracts of fertile soil suitable for arable farming and pasture. The whole area is historically Scots-speaking and has long had cultural, population and linguistic interchange with neighbouring Northumberland, and Cumbria in England.

However, the social structure of the Borders was historically more akin to that of the Highlands, with large areas controlled by powerful families—often in conflict over each others’ lands, cattle and horses but likely to band together in joint enterprise against the Scottish or English crowns at various times. Frankly, the border for them was porous or non-existent, as many families spread either side of it. Thus, the “Riding Clans” of the Borders may justify the term “Clan”, although “Grayne” is also used academically but not in popular speech.33

2.1.5. Dumfries & Galloway and the West March

Dumfriesshire and Kirkcudbrightshire adjoin the English border. Wigtownshire does not. Together, they are now Dumfries and Galloway. This region was settled by Gaels after the Gaelic settlement of Dal Riada/Argyll in the 5th and 6th centuries. It had most contact with the Strathclyde Britons to the north and related Picts to the east and north, and became Scots by culture and language.

2.1.6. Are the Lowlands and the Borders Considered to Be the Same?

There is a canard which originates from a partial and mistaken reading of the 1587 “Act for the quieting and keeping in obedience of the disordered subjects, inhabitants of the borders, highlands and isles” (considered in more detail below). The assumption is made that Scotland consists only of the Highlands and Isles, and the Borders, both of which contain Clans, and that thus there is no separate non-Clan Lowlands to consider. However, a more careful reading of the Act shows that the Lowlands are considered a separate region from the Highlands and Borders, devoid of Clans, but harried by the Clans from the north and the south.

Table 1. Summary of the populations in the Scottish regions at five points in time—1755, 1801, 1811, 1971 and 2022. Base data are in Table 2, below.

	Webster 1755	%	1801	%	1811	%	1971	%	2022	%
Assuming Perth, Stirling and Aberdeen are half Highlands, half Lowlands
Highlands	434,985	36	498,244	31	529,575	29	813,989	15	983,500	17
Lowlands	633,209	52	917,585	57	1,068,298	59	4,301,602	80	4,454,200	78
Borders	69,820	6	77,450	5	83,947	5	97,281	2	116,900	2
Galloway	76,859	6	106,726	7	117,385	7	143,191	3	145,900	3
	1,214,873	100	1,600,005	100	1,799,204	100	5,356,062	100	5,700,500	100
Assuming Perth, Stirling are entirely in the Highlands
Highlands	455,466	37	525,948	33	558,876	31	694,899	13	1,481,100	26
Lowlands	612,728	50	889,881	56	1,038,996	58	4,293,587	82	3,956,600	69
Borders	69,820	6	77,450	5	83,947	5	97,281	2	116,900	2
Galloway	76,859	6	106,726	7	117,385	7	143,191	3	145,900	3
	1,214,873	100	1,600,005	100	1,799,204	100	5,228,958	98	5,700,500	100

Table 1. Summary of the populations in the Scottish regions at five points in time—1755, 1801, 1811, 1971 and 2022. Base data are in Table 2, below.

	Webster 1755	%	1801	%	1811	%	1971	%	2022	%
Assuming Perth, Stirling and Aberdeen are half Highlands, half Lowlands
Highlands	434,985	36	498,244	31	529,575	29	813,989	15	983,500	17
Lowlands	633,209	52	917,585	57	1,068,298	59	4,301,602	80	4,454,200	78
Borders	69,820	6	77,450	5	83,947	5	97,281	2	116,900	2
Galloway	76,859	6	106,726	7	117,385	7	143,191	3	145,900	3
	1,214,873	100	1,600,005	100	1,799,204	100	5,356,062	100	5,700,500	100
Assuming Perth, Stirling are entirely in the Highlands
Highlands	455,466	37	525,948	33	558,876	31	694,899	13	1,481,100	26
Lowlands	612,728	50	889,881	56	1,038,996	58	4,293,587	82	3,956,600	69
Borders	69,820	6	77,450	5	83,947	5	97,281	2	116,900	2
Galloway	76,859	6	106,726	7	117,385	7	143,191	3	145,900	3
	1,214,873	100	1,600,005	100	1,799,204	100	5,228,958	98	5,700,500	100

Table 2. Base data for Table 1. Populations of Highlands, Lowlands, Borders and Dumfries & Galloway, from Webster’s Analysis of population, 175534 to the official national censuses of 1801, 1811, 1971 and 2022.35 H/L/B/G indicates Highlands, Lowlands, Borders, Dumfries & Galloway.

H/L/B/G	County	Webster 1755	1801	1811	Region	1971	Council Area	2022
H	Argyll	66,286	81,277	86,541	Argyll	59,777	Argyll and Bute	86,000	H
H	Bute	7125	11,701	12,033	Bute	13,309
H	Caithness	22,215	22,609	23,149	Caithness	27,792	Highland	235,400	H
H	Inverness	59,563	72,672	77,671	Inverness	89,655	Na h-Eileanan Siar	26,200	H
H	Moray	30,604	27,700	27,967	Moray	51,502	Moray	93,400	H
H	Nairn	5694	8322	8406	Nairn	11,050
H	Orkney	23,381	24,445	23,238	Orkney	17,082	Orkney Islands	22,000	H
H	Ross and Croma;ty	48,084	50,318	60,853	Ross and Cromarty	58,284
H	Sutherland	20,174	28,117	23,629	Sutherland	13,055
H	Zetland	15,210	22,379	22,915	Zetland	17,331	Shetland Islands	22,900	H
H/L	Perth*	120,116	125,583	134,300	Perth	127,104	Perth + Kinross	150,800	H/L
H/L	Stirling*	37,014	50,825	58,174	Stirling	208,958	Stirling	92,600	H/L
H/L	Aberdeen	116,168	121,000	133,871	Aberdeen + City	320,033	Aberdeen + City	751,800	H/L
L	Angus	68,883	99,053	107,187	Angus + Dundee	279,516	Angus + Dundee	262,500	L
L	Ayr	50,000	84,207	103,839	Ayr	361,248	Ayrshire N + E	365,300	L
L	Banff	38,478	37,216	38,433	Banff	43,500
L	Clackmannan	9003	10,858	12,010	Clackmannan	45,544	Clackmannanshire	51,800	L
L	Dunbarton	13,837	20,710	24,189	Dunbarton	237,540	Dunbartonshire E + W	197,400	L
L	East Lothian	29,709	29,986	31,050	East Lothian	55,908	East Lothian	112,300	L
L	Fife	81,570	93,143	101,272	Fife	327,126	Fife	370,400	L
L	Kincardine	23,057	20,349	27,439	Kincardine	26,066	Falkirk	158,400	L
L	Kinross	4889	6725	7245	Kinross	6423
L	Lanark	81,726	147,692	191,291	Lanark + Glasgow	1,524,271	Lanarkshire N + S + Glasgow	1,288,900	L
L	Midlothjnn	90,412	122,597	148,607	Midlothian + Edinburgh	595,798	Midlothian + Edinburgh	609,300	L
L	Renfrew	26,645	78,501	93,112	Renfrew	362,130	Renfrewshire + Inverclyde	359,000	L
L	West Lothian	16,829	17,844	19,451	West Lothian	108,484	West Lothian	181,300	L
B	Berwick	23,087	30,206	30,893	Berwick	20,778
B	Peebles	8008	8735	9935	Peebles	13,675	Scottish Borders	116,900	B
B	Roxburgh	34,704	33,121	37,230	Roxburgh	41,960
B	Selkirk	4021	5388	5889	Selkirk	20,868
G+	Dumfries	39,188	54,597	62,900	Dumfries	88,215	Dumfries and Galloway	145,900	G
G	Kirkcudbright	21,205	29,211	33,684	Kirkudbright	27,639
G	Wigtown	16,466	22,918	20,801	Wigtown	27,337
	* Perth and Stirling are considered 50% H and 50% L
	+ The counties of Galloway are a special case, neither H, L nor B
	Some Councils disappeared or were amalgamated in the consolidations of 1971, 1975 and 1996 e.g.,
	Highlands, Borders, Dumfries and Galloway
	Some divided areas have been re-merged for this assessment. Such as:
	East, North and South Ayrshire, North and South Lanarkshire.

Table 2. Base data for Table 1. Populations of Highlands, Lowlands, Borders and Dumfries & Galloway, from Webster’s Analysis of population, 175534 to the official national censuses of 1801, 1811, 1971 and 2022.35 H/L/B/G indicates Highlands, Lowlands, Borders, Dumfries & Galloway.

H/L/B/G	County	Webster 1755	1801	1811	Region	1971	Council Area	2022
H	Argyll	66,286	81,277	86,541	Argyll	59,777	Argyll and Bute	86,000	H
H	Bute	7125	11,701	12,033	Bute	13,309
H	Caithness	22,215	22,609	23,149	Caithness	27,792	Highland	235,400	H
H	Inverness	59,563	72,672	77,671	Inverness	89,655	Na h-Eileanan Siar	26,200	H
H	Moray	30,604	27,700	27,967	Moray	51,502	Moray	93,400	H
H	Nairn	5694	8322	8406	Nairn	11,050
H	Orkney	23,381	24,445	23,238	Orkney	17,082	Orkney Islands	22,000	H
H	Ross and Croma;ty	48,084	50,318	60,853	Ross and Cromarty	58,284
H	Sutherland	20,174	28,117	23,629	Sutherland	13,055
H	Zetland	15,210	22,379	22,915	Zetland	17,331	Shetland Islands	22,900	H
H/L	Perth*	120,116	125,583	134,300	Perth	127,104	Perth + Kinross	150,800	H/L
H/L	Stirling*	37,014	50,825	58,174	Stirling	208,958	Stirling	92,600	H/L
H/L	Aberdeen	116,168	121,000	133,871	Aberdeen + City	320,033	Aberdeen + City	751,800	H/L
L	Angus	68,883	99,053	107,187	Angus + Dundee	279,516	Angus + Dundee	262,500	L
L	Ayr	50,000	84,207	103,839	Ayr	361,248	Ayrshire N + E	365,300	L
L	Banff	38,478	37,216	38,433	Banff	43,500
L	Clackmannan	9003	10,858	12,010	Clackmannan	45,544	Clackmannanshire	51,800	L
L	Dunbarton	13,837	20,710	24,189	Dunbarton	237,540	Dunbartonshire E + W	197,400	L
L	East Lothian	29,709	29,986	31,050	East Lothian	55,908	East Lothian	112,300	L
L	Fife	81,570	93,143	101,272	Fife	327,126	Fife	370,400	L
L	Kincardine	23,057	20,349	27,439	Kincardine	26,066	Falkirk	158,400	L
L	Kinross	4889	6725	7245	Kinross	6423
L	Lanark	81,726	147,692	191,291	Lanark + Glasgow	1,524,271	Lanarkshire N + S + Glasgow	1,288,900	L
L	Midlothjnn	90,412	122,597	148,607	Midlothian + Edinburgh	595,798	Midlothian + Edinburgh	609,300	L
L	Renfrew	26,645	78,501	93,112	Renfrew	362,130	Renfrewshire + Inverclyde	359,000	L
L	West Lothian	16,829	17,844	19,451	West Lothian	108,484	West Lothian	181,300	L
B	Berwick	23,087	30,206	30,893	Berwick	20,778
B	Peebles	8008	8735	9935	Peebles	13,675	Scottish Borders	116,900	B
B	Roxburgh	34,704	33,121	37,230	Roxburgh	41,960
B	Selkirk	4021	5388	5889	Selkirk	20,868
G+	Dumfries	39,188	54,597	62,900	Dumfries	88,215	Dumfries and Galloway	145,900	G
G	Kirkcudbright	21,205	29,211	33,684	Kirkudbright	27,639
G	Wigtown	16,466	22,918	20,801	Wigtown	27,337
	* Perth and Stirling are considered 50% H and 50% L
	+ The counties of Galloway are a special case, neither H, L nor B
	Some Councils disappeared or were amalgamated in the consolidations of 1971, 1975 and 1996 e.g.,
	Highlands, Borders, Dumfries and Galloway
	Some divided areas have been re-merged for this assessment. Such as:
	East, North and South Ayrshire, North and South Lanarkshire.

The upper sub-table is composed on the assumption that the historic counties of Perth, Stirling and Aberdeen are half in the Highlands and half Lowlands. The lower table assigns their whole populations to the Highlands. It makes hardly any difference to the analysis. Some divided areas have been re-merged for this assessment, such as: East, North and South Ayrshire, and North and South Lanarkshire. The large cities which are now local authorities in their own right (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee) have been re-merged with their original surrounding counties.

2.2. Populations—Highlands, Lowland, Borders, and Dumfries & Galloway

Historical counties no longer exist in Scotland, but they are part of common parlance. Some Councils disappeared or were amalgamated in the consolidations of 1971, 1975 and 1996, e.g., Highlands, Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, and some were created anew. “I am from Inverness” is usual; “I am from the Highland Council area” would be administratively correct, but rarely heard. Understanding the placement of the Counties and the Regions then Areas which replaced them is crucial to assigning Clans and families to the appropriate designation—Highland, Lowland, etc.

Table 1 shows a summary of the populations in the Scottish regions at four points in time. Clearly, even before the steady population decline in the Highlands, it was never the majority of Scotland. The Lowlands has been over 50% of the population since 1755, and even more prominent after the great Highland migrations to the Scottish industrial cities, to England, and overseas.

2.3. The Act of 1587 Differentiates Between the Highland & Islands, the Borders, and the Lowlands

The obvious starting point for a list of Clans is the 1587 “Act for the quieting and keeping in obedience of the disordered subjects, inhabitants of the borders, highlands and isles”, often called the “Act against clans”.36 In 1581, the Parliament of Scotland rendered a whole Clan jointly answerable for the delinquencies of each individual. Another statute passed shortly after made the chief of each Clan responsible of all the misdeeds of men of his surname. To facilitate this, a roll was drawn up of the nobles, barons (meaning Scottish feudal barons as opposed to peers), chieftains and Clans residing on the Borders, and Highlands, recited in the 1587 Act (Table 3). The mention of “Chiftanis and chieffis of all clannis…duelland in the hielands or bordouris”37 is often mistakenly applied as if “Highlands and Borders” encompassed the whole of Scotland, and that therefore the term “clan” equally refers to Lowland families.38 In reality, the Roll specifically excludes the Lowlands and its prominent families, such as (in Fife alone) Bruce, Lindsay, Leslie, Durie, Hay and others, whose chiefs were among the most influential men in Scotland at the time. Bruce, to take but one example, is not and never was a Clan—the present Chief, Andrew Bruce, Earl of Elgin, uses the term “House of Bruce”.

The Act itself mentions Lowlands in three places. The Act starts:

…considering the wicked inclination of the disordered subjects, inhabitants in some parts of the borders adjacent to England and in the highlands and isles…

later, it says (italics emphasis by BD):

…to make them answerable to the law as the lowland and obedient men under the pains contained in the acts of parliament.

and that letters shall be directed…

…by open proclamation at the market cross of the head burgh of the shire where they frequent, or head burghs of the two next shires in the lowlands (where there is clearly not safe access)…

and makes reference to

…thieves or disobedient persons and clans that dare not come to public markets in lowlands

Clearly, then, Lowlanders were being categorised as the victims of depredations of Clans and Clan members in the neighbouring Highlands and Borders and West March (Dumfries & Galloway). A Lowland family may well have had an armigerous chief and feudally held lands, but did not have the typical Clan structures living nearby, or a quasi-military structure. By contrast, at one point the Borders Armstrongs, based around Langholm in Dumfriesshire, could put 3000 men on horse into the field. They were one of the Borders Clans who had raised “reiving” (sacking and cattle-rustling) to a high art. “Clans” are therefore a phenomenon of the Highlands and Islands and to an extent the Borders but the equivalent kinship/territorial structures in the Lowlands are the “family”, usually based on a feudal barony or a large estate.

Table 3. From the 1587 Act: The roll of the clans that have captains, chiefs and chieftains whom on they depend, often times against the will of their landlords, as well on the borders as highlands, and of some special persons of branches of the said clans. The modern versions of the names have been given, and the order alphabeticised.

The Borders—Middle March  Armstrong  Crosier  Elliott  Nixon The Borders—West March  Bateson  Bell  Carruther(s)  Glendinning  Graham  Irving  Jardine  Johnston  Latimer  Little  Moffat  Scotts of Ewesdale  Thomson

Highlands and Isles  Clan Andrew  Buchanan  Clan Cameron  Campbell of Inverawe  Campbell of Lochnell  Clan Chattan  Clan Donachie in Atholl and parts adjacent  Clan Dowell of Lorne  Ferguson  Fraser  Graham of Menteith  Grant  Clan Gregor  Clan Ian  Clan Kenzie  Clan Kinnon  Clan Laren

Clan Leod of Harris  Clan Lewis of the Lewis  MacFarlane, Arrochar  MacIntosh in Atholl  Clan MacKean of Ardvorlich  MacNab  Clan MacThomas in Glenshee  Menzies in Atholl and Apnadull  Munro  Murray in Sutherland  Clan Neil  Clan Ranald in Lochaber  Clan Ranald of Knoydart, Moidart and Glengarry  Spalding  Stewart of Balquhidder  Stewart of Lorne or of Appin  Stewarts of Atholl and parts adjacent

Table 3. From the 1587 Act: The roll of the clans that have captains, chiefs and chieftains whom on they depend, often times against the will of their landlords, as well on the borders as highlands, and of some special persons of branches of the said clans. The modern versions of the names have been given, and the order alphabeticised.

The Borders—Middle March  Armstrong  Crosier  Elliott  Nixon The Borders—West March  Bateson  Bell  Carruther(s)  Glendinning  Graham  Irving  Jardine  Johnston  Latimer  Little  Moffat  Scotts of Ewesdale  Thomson

Highlands and Isles  Clan Andrew  Buchanan  Clan Cameron  Campbell of Inverawe  Campbell of Lochnell  Clan Chattan  Clan Donachie in Atholl and parts adjacent  Clan Dowell of Lorne  Ferguson  Fraser  Graham of Menteith  Grant  Clan Gregor  Clan Ian  Clan Kenzie  Clan Kinnon  Clan Laren

Clan Leod of Harris  Clan Lewis of the Lewis  MacFarlane, Arrochar  MacIntosh in Atholl  Clan MacKean of Ardvorlich  MacNab  Clan MacThomas in Glenshee  Menzies in Atholl and Apnadull  Munro  Murray in Sutherland  Clan Neil  Clan Ranald in Lochaber  Clan Ranald of Knoydart, Moidart and Glengarry  Spalding  Stewart of Balquhidder  Stewart of Lorne or of Appin  Stewarts of Atholl and parts adjacent

A further Act of the Scottish parliament in 1594 for the “punishment of theft, robbery, oppression and sorning” cited “wicked thieves and rogues of the clans and surnames following inhabiting the highlands and isles” and “others inhabiting the borders opposite England, in the murder, harrying and daily oppression of his highness’s peaceable and good subjects in the whole countries adjacent to the highlands and borders”.39 See

Table 4. The list of Clans in the Highlands and Borders from the 1594 Act of the Scottish parliament. The order has been alphabeticised.

“inhabiting the highlands and isles” and “inhabiting the sheriffdoms of Argyll, Bute, Dunbarton, Stirling, Perth, Forfar, Aberdeen” and “and inhabiting the sheriffdoms of Argyll, Banff, Elgin, Forres, Nairn, Inverness and Cromarty, stewartries of Strathearn and Menteith”:		“inhabiting the borders opposite England in the sheriffdoms of Roxburgh, Selkirk, Peebles, Dumfries and stewartry of Annandale”:
Cheilphale  Clanandries  Clancameron  Clanchattan  Clanchewill  Clandonald south and north  Clandonnachie,  Clandowal  Claneoin,  Clanfarlane  Clangilliane  Clangregor  Clangun  Clankenzie  Clankinnon  Clanmaclaren  Clanmacleod of Harris  Clanmacleod of the Lewis  Clanmorgan  Clanneill  Clanranald in Knoydart, Moidart and Glengarry  Clanronald in Lochaber	and also many broken men of the surnames of:  Buchanans  Campbells  Farquharsons in Brae of Mar  Fergusons  Frasers  Galbraiths  Grahams in Menteith  Grants  MacCalls  MacIntoshes in Atholl  MacNabbs  MacNabrichis  MacPhersons  MacThomas in Glenshee  Menzies  Montroses  Neilsons  Rosses  Spaldings  Stewarts in Atholl, Lorne and Balquhidder	Armstrong  Beatsons  Bells  Carlisles  Carruthers  Crosars  Elliott  Glendinnings  Grahams  Irvings  Jardines  Johnstons  Latimers  Littles  Moffatts  Nicolsons  Thomsons,  and others

.

2.4. Other Sources for List of Clans and Families

2.4.1. King George IV’s 1822 Visit to Scotland

The next reasonable source would be the chiefs of Clans and heads of families invited by Sir Walter Scott to the visit in 1822 of King George IV to Edinburgh (see “Sir Water Scottery”, Section 1.3 above). There is no single comprehensive source, but available historical records and scholarly works suggest that of the Highland chiefs and Clan representatives invited, only five Clans actually turned up to be represented in the city—these were: 50 Sutherlands, dressed in tartan trews borrowed from the Black Watch regiment; 50 from the Earl of Breadalbane’s estate; MacGregors; MacDonells of Glengarry (whose chief took every opportunity to try to insert himself at the head of every procession and event); and Drummonds from Strathearn and Tayside, led by a female chief with a Welsh title. One account says, “although there was so much tartan on the backs and about the thighs of unattached gentlemen that number seemed greater”.40 Individual chiefs and proprietors came to the 1822 festivities outfitted in “the garb of old Gaul”,41 but it is not always clear who they were other than those identified as leaders of one of the societies which had sprung up (the Celtic Society, for one). The presence of an acknowledged chief, alone or possibly with a small number of close companions, is not the same as a “clan” being there. Another complication is that there are many MacDonalds, for example, who were substantial landowners and might claim to be heads of Clans in their own right—MacDonald of Ardgour, Ardnamurchan, Barra, Boisdale, Uist, etc. The current (2026) situation is that five MacDonald Chiefs are recognised as the High Council of Clan Donald: Macdonald of Macdonald (High Chief of Clan Donald); McDonnell of Antrim, MacDonell of Glengarry, MacDonald of Clanranald, Macdonald of Sleat, and recently MacAlister (McAlester of Loup and Kennox) was added. Likewise, there are three MacLeod Clans and chiefs: MacLeod of The Lewes, MacLeod of Raasay (whose chiefs are brothers), and Clan MacLeod. The resultant list of those who may have been there (

Table 5. Partial list of Clans whose chiefs may have attended the King’s visit in 1822.

Campbell MacDonald

MacIntosh MacKenzie

MacDougall MacLachlan

MacLeod Stewart (Stuart)

, below) is too short to be useful.

This expanded list below (

Table 6. Notable Lowland families and their heads who were likely invited or present during the King’s visit, 1822.

Abercromby Abernethy Arbuthnott Balfour Beattie Bellenden Berwick Blair Borthwick Campbell Chisholm

Cockburn Colville Dalrymple Douglas Douglas Dundas Elphinstone Erskine Farquharson Forbes Gordon

Graham Hamilton Hamilton Home Hope Johnstone Kennedy Ker Lindsay Livingstone Maitland

Maxwell Murray Murray Ogilvy Ramsay Scott Sinclair Stewart/Stuart Wemyss

) includes additional notable Lowland families and their heads who were likely invited or present during King George IV’s visit to Edinburgh in 1822. In some cases, more than one family member participated, such as Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, and Lawrence Dundas, 1st Earl of Zetland. There are, for example, various Douglas families who have lands in the Lowlands and the Borders, so they are hard to categorise. Several related Scott families have separate holdings in the Borders, but there are also significant possessions in, say, Midlothian (Dalkeith Palace, the former seat of the Duke of Buccleuch) and Fife (Scotstarvit Tower, bought, in 1611 and rebuilt in the 1620s by Sir John Scott, himself from Perthshire). However, the Scotts are considered predominantly Borders, and among the “Riding Clans”. Stewart is also problematic; various members of the family having been granted lands all over Scotland (often sons, legitimate and illegitimate of Royal Stewart and Stuart monarchs) but only some of which could reasonable be considered Clans (Atholl, Appin, Lorne).

2.4.2. Lists of Clans from Books

There are many publications listing Clans (mainly), but often these are derivative of each other, with later editions of one title reflecting changes in another. Two in particular are considered reasonably authoritative and certainly much-consulted: (

Table 7. Adam’s list of Highland Clans. Names followed by *—see Section 2.4.3. Problems with Such Lists, below.

Buchanan Cameron Campbell Campbell of Breadalbane Campbell of Cawdor Campbell of Loudoun Mackintosh Macpherson. Colquhoun Cumming* Davidson Drummond Farquharson Ferguson Forbes* Fraser Gordon Graham Grant Gunn

Innes* Lamont Leslie* Lindsay* MacAllister MacAulay MacArthur MacDonald MacDonald of Clanranald MacDonald of Ardnamurchan MacDonald of Glencoe MacDonell of Glengarry MacDonell of Keppoch MacDougall MacDuff MacFarlane Macfie MacGillivray MacGregor

Macinnes Macintyre Mackay MacKenzie Mackinnon Mackintosh MacLachlan Maclaine of Lochbuie MacLaurin Maclean Maclennan MacLeod of Harris MacLeod of Lewis Macmillan Macnab MacNaughton MacNeil Macpherson Macquarrie Macqueen

Macrae Malcolm Mar (Tribe of) Mathieson Menzies Munro Morison Murray Ogilvy Robertson (Donnachaidh) Ross Sinclair* Skene Stewart Stewart, Appin Stewart, Atholl Stuart, Bute Sutherland

) (Adam ([1908] 1960)’s Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands as revised by Lord Lyon Innes of Learney; the other (

Table 8. McIan’s list of Highland Clans. Names followed by *—see Section 2.4.3. Problems with Such Lists, below.

Buchanan Cameron Campbell of Argyle Campbell of Breadalbane Chisholm Colquhon Cumin Davidson Drummond Farquharson Ferguson Forbes* Fraser Gordon Graeme Grant Grant of Glenmoriston Gunn Kennedy*

Lamond Logan* MacAllaster MacArthur MacAulay MacBean MacColl MacCruimin MacDonald of Clan Ranald MacDonald of Garagach and Keppoch MacDonald of Glencoe MacDonald of the Isles MacDonell of Glengarry MacDuff MacDugal MacGillivray MacGregor

MacInnes MacIntire Maclntosh MacIvor Mackay Mackenzie Mackinnon MacLachlan MacLaurin MacLean MacLennan ·MacLeod MacMillan MacNab MacNachtan MacNicol MacNiel MacPharlan MacPhee

MacPherson MacQuarie MacRae Matheson Menzies Munro Murray Ogilvie Robertson Rose Ross Shaw Sinclair* Skene Stewart Sutherland Urquhart

) is McIan and Logan ([1845 and 1847] 1983) Clans of the Scottish Highlands.

2.4.3. Problems with Such Lists

In both lists some names are followed by an asterisk (*) to indicate their inclusion as “clans” is problematic. Taking these alphabetically from both lists:

Cumin/Cumming: Equivalent to the historical Comyn, supporters of Balliol and opponents of the Bruces during the search for a king at the juncture of the 13th and 14th centuries.

Forbes: The point is made above that Forbes lands are east of the Highland/Lowland line, and their own historians claim descent from Kings of the Picts. Although they did have feuds against neighbouring Clans and families, and occasionally raised bodies of armed men in one cause or another, this did not distinguish them from many Lowland landowners.

Innes: Innes is Lowland (from the lands called Innes in Moray, derived from inis meaning a headland or an island in a river or land between two rivers) and they claim descent from a Flemish knight, who was given the lands of Innes by Malcolm IV of Scotland in 1160. They are denied a chief because that would be the present Duke of Roxburghe, descendant of James Innes-Ker, 5th Duke of Roxburghe who cannot be recognised by the Lord Lyon as chief of the name Innes because he bears the conjoint surname Innes-Ker

https://web.archive.org/web/20110726201938/http://www.clanchiefs.org/p/?init=clanfinder&id=innes. (accessed 1 October 2025)

Kennedy: The surname is from Lowlands Ayrshire, where their ancestors in Lothian were sent to settle and to resist Picto-Scottish sea raids in the south-west of Scotland. There is no connection with the Irish-origin surname Kennedy.

Leslie: The family originated from the eponymous Leslie in Fife (Lowlands), but there have also been Leslies in Aberdeenshire since Alexander Leslie was appointed constable of the Bass of Inverurie in 1080, and the chiefs are also the Earls of Rothes, in Moray. Their seat was Leslie House, in Fife (Lowlands).

Lindsay: The Lindsays are earls of Crawford (in Ayrshire and south Lanarkshire, both Lowlands) and of Balcarres (Fife, Lowlands)

Logan: McIan’s book contains a map that places Logan lands near Edinburgh—this is Logan of Restalrig (now extinct), a branch of an Ayrshire family not connected to Irish Logans. or provably to those in the north-east of Scotland (and so Logan is a Lowland family).

Sinclair: This is more problematic still. Sinclairs were originally two related Anglo-Norman families in East Lothian (Lowlands) who had Roslin/Roslyn (before 1446) and Herdmanston (Henry of Saint-Clair/Sinclair had a charter for these lands in 1160). The Earls of Caithness descended from the Sinclairs who moved north and were de facto Earls of Orkney under the sovereign King Eric VII of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (Saint-Clair 1898; Paul 1910). In 1471 James III gave the castle of Ravenscraig in Fife (Lowland) to William Sinclair, Earl of Orkney and Caithness in exchange for the Earldom of Orkney and other lands which James annexed from Norway to the Scottish Crown. William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness and Baron of Roslin (who founded the famous Rosslyn Chapel in the 15th century) divided his family by disinheriting his eldest son from his first marriage (William “the Waster”, who inherited the title Lord Sinclair) and granting the lands at Roslin to his eldest son from his second marriage (Sir Oliver Sinclair) and the Caithness lands to his second son from his second marriage (William Sinclair, 2nd Earl of Caithness) in 1476. There are two fortifications in Caithness that were Sinclair seats: the 15th century Castle Girnigoe and the early 17th century Castle Sinclair, both now ruins. George, 6th Earl, settled his many ruinous debts by sale in 1672 to his main creditor, Campbell, Lord Glenorchy (later the Earl of Breadalbane). In 1719, the Earl of Breadalbane sold his remaining claims and rights in the estates of the Caithness family to John Sinclair of Ulbster, who then sold half of that to Sir James Sinclair of Dunbeath. No vestige of the early Sinclairs remains. Sinclair is more Lowland than (Highland) Caithness (Henderson 1884).

2.5. Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs (SCSC)

This body has a rather unique position in the life of Scotland. In essence, it is a private lunch club whose members are chiefs as recognised by the Lord Lyon, plus a small handful of invited non-chiefs. Not all recognised chiefs are members, so it does not represent the totality of the chiefship (see below). The SCSC has no legal status and no authority. However, what it does have is auctoritas, which Mommsen described as “more than advice and less than command, an advice which one may not ignore”—social and moral influence, credibility, prestige and reputation, rather than legal potestas.42

SCSC finds itself—or at least its Convener and Executive—consulted on matters concerning clanship and chiefship—although it is important to note that it is a body of chiefs, not of Clan and families, and is not the Scottish equivalent of, say, COSCA (

Table 9. List of ccchiefs and their Clans or families represented on SCSC. Care should be taken here. The original website with a list of member Chiefs (https://www.clanchiefs.org.uk/chief/, 26 March 2026) is still accessible (as of January 2026) but is due to be replaced by the currently incomplete but also accessible https://www.scsc.app/ (26 March 2026) which has a look-up facility for Clan and family surnames, plus a “Clan Registry” (a full listing), inappropriately named https://www.scsc.app/clans (26 March 2026) as it also lists families. Chiefs or others so authorised may upload a description of their Clan or family, but AI-generated Drafts can be seen, many of which are shot through with errors and “AI hallucinations”. An example of a corrected upload is https://www.scsc.app/clans/durie 43 The page on which it appears refers only to “official clan chiefs”, “Scotland’s rich clan heritage”, “clan societies”, “the dignity and heritage of Scotland’s clans” with no mention of families, houses or other designations. Again, the implication is “everyone is in a Clan”. There is no attempt to apportion the surnames to Highland, Lowland, Borders, etc. The list below is taken from the first-mentioned site, although there may have been further Chiefs recognised since it was composed. Only two surnames are specifically identified as “Family”—The House of Bruce and The Durie Family. There may be more than one relevant Society (e.g., Elliot Clan Society, Elliot Clan Society USA, Australian Clan Elliot), who may or may not cooperate with each other (the Elliots do!). Those with Commanders, awaiting progression to having a chief, have been removed from the above list.

Name Agnew Anstruther Arthur Bannerman Barclay Borthwick Boyle Brodie Broun Bruce Buchanan Burnett Cameron Campbell Carmichael Carruthers Charteris Chisholm Cochrane Colquhoun Cranstoun Cunningham Dalrymple Dewar Drummond Dunbar

Dundas Crichton Durie Elliot Elphinstone Erskine Ewen Ewing Farquharson Forsyth Fraser Fraser Gordon Graham Grant Gunn Guthrie Haldane Hamilton Hannay Hay Henderson Hope Hunter Irvine Irving Jardine

Johnstone Kennedy Kerr Kincaid Lamont Leask Leslie Lindsay Lockhart Lumsden MacDonald of Clanranald Macdonald of Glengarry MacDonald of Keppoch MacDougall Macdonald of Macdonald Macdonald of Sleat Macdowall MacGillivray MacGregor MacIntyre Machlachlan Mackay Mackenzie

Mackintosh MacLaine MacLaren Maclea MacLean MacLennan Macleod of Raasay Macleod of the Lewes MacMillan Macnab Macnaghten Macneacail Macneil Macpherson MacTavish MacThomas Maitland Malcolm (MacCallum) Marjoribanks Matheson McBain Moffat Moncreiffe Montgomerie Morrison

Munro Napier Nesbitt Ogilvy Oliphant Pringle Ramsay Riddell Robertson Rollo Rose Ross Scott Scott of Harden Scrymgeour Sempill Shaw of Tordarroch Sinclair Skene Strange Sutherland Trotter Urquhart Wallace Wedderburn Wemyss

).

Not all chiefs are represented on SCSC. Membership is voluntary, occasionally changes, and carries no official standing. There are some “non-Chief” members there by invitation.

Table 10. Some notable “missing” Clans and families from SCSC membership.

Armstrong Glendinning MacIan (MacDonald) Neilson Bateson/Beatson Latimer

MacKean of Ardvorlich Nickson/Nicolson/Nixon Bell Little MacKinnon Spalding

Carlisle MacAndrew MacPhail (Cheilphale) Stewart of Atholl and Glengarry Crosar/Crosier

MacCall Morgan Watson of Saughton Galbraith MacFarlane Murray in Sutherland

,

Table 11. Surnames with a chief—by area, whether Highland, Lowland, Borders of Dumfries & Galloway, whether Clans or families, SCSC membership, and if mentioned in the Acts of 1587 or 1594 (Bt = Baronet) Surnames in the Borders (B) and Dumfries & Galloway (DG) have not been assigned to Clan or family.

Family/House/Clan etc.	Chief	County	H/L/ B/DG	Chief in SCSC	Clan/ Family?	Named in 1587 or 1594 Acts?
Agnew	Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw Bt.	Wigtownshire	DG	Yes		No
Allardice	Richard Christopher Barclay Allardice of Allardice	Kincardineshire	L	No	Family	No
Anstruther	Toby Anstruther of that Ilk	Fife	L	Yes	Family	No
Arbuthnott	Keith Arbuthnott 17th Viscount of Arbuthnott	Aberdeenshire	L	No	Family	No
Arthur	John MacArthur of that Ilk	Wigtownshire	DG	Yes		No
Bannerman	Sir David Bannerman of Elsick Bt.	Kincardineshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Barclay	Peter Barclay of that Ilk	Aberdeenshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Borthwick	The Lord Borthwick	Midlothian	L	Yes	Family	No
Boyd	Robin Jordan Boyd 8th Baron Kilmarnock	Ayrshire	L	No	Family	No
Boyle	The Earl of Glasgow	Ayrshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Brodie	Alexander Brodie of Brodie	Moray	H	Yes	Clan	No
Broun	Sir Wayne Broun of Colstoun Bt.	East Lothian	L	Yes	Family	No
Bruce	The Earl of Elgin & Kincardine K.T.	Fife	L	Yes	Family	No
Buchan	David Buchan of Auchmacoy	Aberdeenshire	L	No	Family	No
Buchanan	Michael Buchanan of that Ilk and Arnprior	Stirlingshire	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
Burnett	James Burnett of Leys	Aberdeenshire	L	Yes	Family	Yes
Cameron	Lord Cameron of Lochiel	Inverness-shire	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
Campbell	The Duke of Argyll	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	No
Campbell of Cawdor	Colin Campbell, 7th Earl Cawdor	Nairn	H	No	Clan	No
Carmichael	Richard Carmichael of Carmichael	Lanarkshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Carnegie	David Carnegie, 4th Duke of Fife	Kincardineshire	L	No	Family	No
Carnegie	James Carnegie, Duke of Fife	Kincardineshire	L	No	Family	No
Carruthers	Dr Simon Peter Carruthers of Holmains	Dumfriesshire	DG	Yes		Yes
Cathcart	Charles Alan Andrew Cathcart, 7th Earl Cathcart	Renfrewshire	L	No	Family	No
Charteris	The Earl of Wemyss and March	East Lothian	L	Yes	Family	No
Chisholm	Hamish Chisholm of Chisholm	Inverness-shire	H/B	Yes	Clan	No
Cochrane	The Earl of Dundonald	Renfrewshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Colquhoun	Sir Malcolm Colquhoun of Luss Bt.	Argyll & Bute	H	Yes	Clan	No
Colville	Charles Mark Townshend Colville, 5th Viscount Colville of Culross	Fife	L	No	Family	No
Cranstoun	David Cranston of that Ilk	Midlothian	L	Yes	Family	No
Crichton	David Crichton of that Ilk	Dumfriesshire	DG	Yes		No
Cumming	Sir Alexander Penrose Gordon Cumming of Altyre, 7th Bt.	Angus	L	No	Family	No
Cunningham	Sir John Cuninghame of that Ilk, Bt	Ayrshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Dalrymple	The Earl of Stair	Ayrshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Darroch	Duncan Darroch of Gourock	Stirlingshire	L	No	Family	No
Davidson	Grant Guthrie Davidson, 3rd of Davidston	Ross and Cromarty	H	No	Clan	No
Dewar		Midlothian	L	Yes	Family	No
Drummond	The Earl of Perth	Perthshire	H	Yes	Clan	No
Dunbar	Sir James Dunbar of Mochrum Bt.	Lothians, Wigtownshire	L/DG	Yes	Family	No
Dundas	David Dundas of Dundas	West Lothian	L	Yes	Family	No
Dunlop	James Stuart Wallace Dunlop, Dunlop of that Ilk	Ayrshire	L	No	Family	No
Durie	Andrew Durie of Durie, CBE	Fife	L	Yes	Family	No
Edmonstone	Sir Archibald Bruce Charles Edmonstone of Duntreath, 7th Bt	Stirlingshire	L	No	Family	No
Eliott	Madam Margaret Eliott of Redheugh	Roxburghshire	B	Yes		Yes
Elphinstone	The Lord Elphinstone	East Lothian	L	Yes	Family	No
Erskine	The Earl of Mar And Kellie	Renfrewshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Ewing	Thor Ewing	Cowal, Dumbartonshire, Stirlingshire	H/L	Yes	Family	No
Farquharson	James Farquharson of Invercauld	Aberdeenshire	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
Fergusson	Charles Fergusson	Ayrshire	L	No	Family	Yes
Forbes	Malcolm Nigel Forbes, 23rd Lord Forbes	Aberdeenshire	L	No	Family	No
Forsyth	Alistair Forsyth of that ilk	Angus	L	Yes	Family	No
Fraser	The Lady Saltoun	Aberdeenshire	L	Yes	Family	Yes
Fraser	The Lord Lovat	Inverness-shire	H	Yes	Clan	No
Gordon	The Marquess of Huntly	Aberdeenshire	H	Yes	Clan	No
Graham	The Duke of Montrose	Angus	L	Yes	Family	Yes
Grant	The Lord Strathspey	Moray	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
Grierson	Madam Sarah Grierson of Lag	Dumfriesshire	DG	No		No
Gunn	John Gunn of Gunn	Caithness	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
Guthrie	Alexander Guthrie of Guthrie	Angus	L	Yes	Family	No
Haig	Alexander Haig, Earl Haig	Roxburghshire	B	No		No
Haldane	Martin Haldane of Gleneagles	Perthshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Hamilton	The Duke of Hamilton	Lanarkshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Hannay	David Hannay of Kirkdale and of that Ilk	Wigtownshire	DG	Yes		No
Hay	The Earl of Erroll	various	H	Yes	Clan	No
Henderson	Alistair Henderson of Fordell	Fife	L	Yes	Family	No
Home	Michael David Alexander Douglas-Home, 16th Earl of Home	Berwickshire	B	No		No
Hope	Sir Alexander Hope of Craighall Bt.	Fife	L	Yes	Family	No
Hunter	Madam Pauline Hunter of Hunterson	Ayrshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Irvine	Alexander Irvine of Drum	Aberdeenshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Irvine	Rupert Irving of Bonshaw	Dumfriesshire	D&G	Yes		Yes
Jardine	Sir William Jardine of Applegirth Bt.	Dumfriesshire	D&G	Yes		Yes
Johnstone	The Earl of Annandale and Hartfell	Dumfriesshire	D&G	Yes		Yes
Keith	James William Falconer Keith, 14th Earl of Kintore	East Lothian, Aberdeenshire	L	No	Family	No
Kennedy	The Marquess of Ailsa	Ayrshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Kerr	The Marquess of Lothian	Midlothian	L	Yes	Family	No
Kincaid	Madam Arabella Kincaid of Kincaid	Dunbartonshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Lamont	Father Peter Noel Lamont	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	No
Leask	Dr Jonathan Leask of that Ilk	Aberdeenshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Lennox	Edward Lennox of that Ilk	Dumbartonshire	L	No	Family	No
Leslie	The Hon. Alexander Leslie (representative)	Fife, Angus, the Mearns, Aberdeenshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Lindsay	The Earl of Crawford and Balcarres	Angus	L	Yes	Family	No
Lockhart	Ranald Lockhart of The Lee	Lanarkshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Lumsden	Gillem Lumsden of that Ilk	Berwickshire	B	Yes		No
MacAlister	William St John Somerville McAlester of Loup and Kennox	Argyll, Ayrshire	H/L	No	Clan	No
MacAulay	Joan MacAulay	Argyll	H	No	Clan	No
MacDonald of Clanranald	The Captain of Clanranald	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
Macdonald of Glengarry	Ranald Macdonell of Glengarry	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
MacDonald of Keppoch	Ranald MacDonald of Keppoch	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	No
Macdonald of Macdonald	The Lord Macdonald	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
Macdonald of Sleat	Sir Ian Macdonald of Sleat Bt.	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
MacDougall	Morag MacDougall of MacDougall	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	No
Macdowall	Fergus Macdowall of Garthland	Renfrewshire	L	Yes	Family	No
MacGillivray	Iain MacGillivray	Inverness-shire	H	Yes	Clan	No
MacGregor	Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor Bt.	Argyll, Perthshire	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
MacIntyre	Duncan MacIntyre of Camus-na-h-Erie (Representative)	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	No
Mackay	The Lord Reay	Sutherland	H	Yes	Clan	No
Mackenzie	The Earl of Cromartie	Ross and Cromarty	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
MacKinnon	Madam Anne MacKinnon of MacKinnon	Argyll	H	No	Clan	No
Mackintosh	John Mackintosh of Mackintosh	Inverness-shire	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
Maclachlan	Euan Maclachlan of Maclachlan	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	No
MacLaine	Lorne Maclaine of Lochbuie	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	No
MacLaren		Perthshire	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
Maclea (Livingstone)	Niall Livingstone of Bachuil, Baron the Bachuil	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	No
MacLean (Clangilliane)	Major the Hon. Sir Lachlan MacLean of Duart and Morvern Bt.	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
MacLennan	Ruairidh MacLennan of MacLennan	Ross and Cromarty,	H	Yes	Clan	No
Macleod	Hugh Magnus MacLeod of MacLeod	Argyll	H	No	Clan	No
Macleod of Raasay	John Macleod of Raasay	Inverness-shire	H	Yes	Clan	Yes (of Harris)
Macleod of the Lewes	Torquil Macleod of the Lewes	Ross and Cromarty	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
MacMillan	George MacMillan of MacMillan and Knap	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
Macnab	Jamie Macnab of Macnab	Perthshire, Stirlingshire	H	Yes	Clan	No
Macnaghten	Sir Malcolm Francis Macnaghten of MacNaghten Bt	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	No
Macneacail	John Macneacail of Macneacail & Scorrybreac	Argyll (Skye/Lewis)	H	Yes	Clan	No
Macneil	Roderick Macneil of Barra	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
Macpherson	James Macpherson of Cluny	Inverness-shire	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
MacTavish	Steven MacTavish of Dunardry	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	No
MacThomas	Andrew MacThomas of Finegand	Perthshire	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
Maitland	The Earl of Lauderdale	Berwickshire	B	Yes		No
Makgill	Ian Arthur Alexander Makgill, 14th Viscount of Oxfuird	Fife, Midlothian	L	No	Family	No
Malcolm (MacCallum)	Robin Malcolm of Poltalloch	Dumbartonshire, Stirlingshire, Argyll	H/L	Yes		No
Marjoribanks	Andrew Marjoribanks of that Ilk	West Lothian	L	Yes	Family	No
Matheson	Major Sir Alexander Matheson of Matheson, Bt.	Ross and Cromarty	H	Yes	Clan	No
McBain	James McBain of McBain	Inverness-shire	H	Yes	Clan	No
McEwen	Sir John McEwen of Marchmont, Bt.	Argyll	H	Yes	Clan	No
McKenzie of Torry	Keith Ngamphon McKenzie of Torry	Argyll, Ross	H	No	Clan	No
Menzies	Robert Ronald Steuart Menzies of Menzies	Perthshire	H	No	Clan	Yes
Moffat	Madam Jean Moffat of that Ilk	Dumfriesshire	B	Yes		Yes
Moncreiffe	The Hon. Peregrine Moncreiffe of that Ilk	Perthshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Montgomerie	The Earl of Eglinton & Winton	Ayrshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Morrison	Alasdair Morrison of Ruchdi	various	H/L	Yes		No
Munro	Hector Munro of Foulis	Ross and Cromarty	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
Murray	Bruce Murray, Duke of Atholl	Perthshire	H	No	Clan	No
Napier	The Lord Napier & Ettrick	Midlothian	L	Yes	Family	No
Nesbitt	Mark Nesbitt of that Ilk	Berwickshire	B	Yes		No
Nicolson	Adam Nicolson, 5th Baron Carnock	Stirlingshire	L	No	Family	No
Ogilvy	The Earl of Airlie	Angus	L	Yes	Family	No
Oliphant	Richard Oliphant of that Ilk	Angus, Perthshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Primrose	Neil Primrose, 7th Earl of Rosebery	Fife, West Lothian	L	No	Family	No
Pringle	Pringle of that Ilk and Stichill	Selkirkshire, Roxburghshire	B	Yes		No
Ramsay	The Earl of Dalhousie	Midlothian	L	Yes	Family	No
Rattray	Alexander Rattray of Rattray	Perthshire	H	No	Clan	No
Riddell	Sir Walter John Buchanan Riddell Bt	various	L	Yes	Family	No
Robertson	Gilbert Robertson of Struan (Clan Donnachie in Atholl, etc.)	Perthshire	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
Rollo	The Lord Rollo	Perthshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Rose	Under consideration	Inverness-shire	H	Yes	Clan	No
Ross	Under consideration	Ross and Cromarty	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
Ruthven	Alexander Patrick Greysteil Ruthven, Earl of Gowrie	Perthshire	L	No	Family	No
Sandilands	James Andrew Douglas Sandilands, 15th Lord Torphichen	Lanarkshire	L	No	Family	No
Scott	The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry	Selkirkshire	B	Yes		Yes (of Ewesdale)
Scott of Harden	Lord Polwarth	Roxburghshire	B	Yes		No
Scrymgeour	The Earl of Dundee	Angus	L	Yes	Family	No
Sempill	The Lord Sempill	Renfrewshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Shaw of Tordarroch	John Shaw of Tordarroch (Clanchewill)	Inverness-shire	H	Yes	Clan	Yes
Sinclair	The Earl of Caithness	Caithness	H	Yes	Clan	No
Skene	Dugald Skene of Skene	Aberdeenshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Somerville	Dr. David C. Somerville	Lanarkshire	L	No	Family	No
Spens	Patrick Spens, 4th Baron Spens	Fife	L	No	Family	No
Stirling	Francis John Stirling of Cadder	Dunbartonshire, Stirlingshire	L	No	Family	No
Strange	Major Timothy Strange of Balcaskie	Fife	L	Yes	Family	No
Stuart of Bute	The Most Hon. John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute	Argyll	H	No	Clan	No
Sutherland	The Earl of Sutherland	Sutherland	H	Yes	Clan	No
Swinton	Rolfe Swinton of That Ilk	Berwickshire	B	No		No
Trotter	Henry Trotter of Mortonhall	Berwickshire	B	Yes		No
Urquhart	Colonel Wilkins Urquhart of Urquhart	Ross & Cromarty	H	Yes	Clan	No
Wallace	Andrew Wallace of that Ilk	Ayrshire, Renfrewshire	L	Yes	Family	No
Wedderburn	Lord Scrymgeour	Angus	L	Yes	Family	No
Wemyss	Michael Wemyss of Wemyss	Fife	L	Yes	Family	No
Wood	Oonagh Elizabeth Susan Fawcett Wood of Largo	Fife, Angus	L	No	Family	No

and

Table 12. Statistical summary of Table 11. H/L/B/DG = Highlands, Lowlands, Borders or Dumfries & Galloway. Lowland Chiefs (47% in this analysis) outnumber Highland Chiefs (38%) and those in the Borders and West March (Dumfries & Galloway) are not insignificant. SCSC members comprise only 75% of chiefs. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number.

H/L/B/D&G	No	%	Category	No	%
Lowland	79	49%	Families with Chiefs	80	47%
Highland	62	39%	Clans with Chiefs	65	38%
H/L (could be either)	4	3%	B, D&G	24	14%
B	12	8%	SCSC	127	75%
D&G	3	2%	Not SCSC	42	25%

attempt to summarise this.

2.6. Towards a List of Clans and Families—See Table 11 and Table 12 for Attempt at Classification

Finally, we can adjudge how many Scottish surname societies use the appellation “Clan” in their titles, when the surname is Lowland and their family has no Highland connection or even operated as a Clan, or was ever listed as such in official sources, such as Acts of Parliament (

Table 13. Analysis of attending Societies at two recent Games in America and a membership organisation. The data for this table are given as Appendix A. The information is taken from: (a) the published programme for the 50th Annual New Hampshire Highland Games & Festival, 19–21 September 2025 at Loon Mountain Resort in Lincoln, New Hampshire (Table column LMG); 44 (b) the current membership list of COSCA, based in the USA (Table column COSCA) which also includes various Scottish interest organisations not used here.45 (c) from “Invited Scottish Clans & Societies” and “clans listed below will also be attending” at Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, 2025 (Table column GFMG) and makes no distinction between Clans, families, etc.;46 Of Societies claiming to represent Clans, this is only justified in 72% of cases at LMG, 42 to 43% on COSCA and at GFM.

LMG 2025		COSCA 2026		GFMG 2025
Total	45	Total	117	Total	112
Listed as Clans	43	Listed as Clans	104	Listed as Clans	112
Actually Clans	31 (72%)	Actually Clans	44 (42%)	Actually Clans	48 (43%)
Lowland families	9	Lowland families	38	Lowland families	32
Borders	3	Borders	9	Borders	6
Indeterminate	3	Indeterminate	5	Indeterminate	6

).

The table shows that:

• There are as many or more Lowland Families and surnames from the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway as there are from the Highlands (15 vs. 31 at LMG, 52 vs. 44 on COSCA, and at 44 vs. 48 at GFM;
• There are anomalies (see Appendix A) where either a surname has genuine representation as a Highland Clan and a Lowland Family (e.g., Fraser, Stewart) or is genuinely indeterminate or mixed as to seat and/or origin (Currie, Keith), or has conflicting documented status (MacDuff);
• No attempt has been made to settle the question as to whether surnames in the Borders are Clans (such as the “Riding Clans” or not), as many families did not behave in a “reiving” way and showed little or no Clan-type organisation. The 1587 Act does list some Borders surname as Clans, but not all. This is a subject for future work.

2.7. Armigerous Clans/Families

Clans and families without a chief often claim to be “Armigerous”.47 This term is supposed to indicate a Clan or family that has no chief currently but once had a chief with Arms. However, this makes no legal or heraldic sense—Arms are the personal, legal, heritable property of one person at a time (see Section 1.5, above) and do not pertain to a whole Clan, family, or cadet branch. If the intent is to indicate that there was once a chief or main representer who was armigerous, then there should be a form of words that expressly says that. But the terms “armigerous clan” and “armigerous family” give the mistaken impression that the undifferenced Arms belong in some way to the whole, and that anyone of the surname is justified in displaying them, as if these Arms were theirs. The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs (SCSC, see above) regards the term as a modern creation and technically mistaken, as Clans are not legal entities capable of receiving heraldic grants.48 This practice should be discouraged.

2.8. New Clans and Families—A Non-Exhaustive List

There are Names which have recently held or expect soon to hold a Family Convention to recognise a chief, with the oversight and approval of the Lord Lyon. These include, in no particular order: Clan MacEwen, the House of MacAlpine, the Learned Kindred of Currie; the Family of Logan; Clan MacDubhsith (Withers 1984) (incorporating MacDuffie, Macfie, MacAfee, et alia); Clan Strachan; Clan MacGillivray; and the House of Baird.

2.9. Gaelic vs. Scots Language

The distribution of Gaelic (Jamieson 1998) speakers in Scotland closely mirrors the Highland/Lowland division. Scottish Gaelic (originally Irish) was mostly confined to Dál Riata until the 8th and 9th centuries with the merging of Gael and Pict under the Pictish Alpin family. The reign of Caustantín mac Áeda (Constantine II, 900–943) and his successors saw Gaelicisation of the whole Kingdom of Alba until the 11th century. Pictish—which had never been a written language—largely disappeared apart from Pictish loanwords, place-names and some influence on syntax (Jackson 1983). But Gaelic started to wane by the latter half of that century during the reign of Malcolm Canmore (Malcolm III, r. 1058–1093) and his Saxon Queen, Margaret. She brought a number of English clerics and monastics to Scotland, and accepted the growing influence of the church in Northumbria, whose language had been influencing the Lothians since 1018 and conquest by the Scots. The sons of Malcolm who reigned after him—Edgar, Alexander I and particularly David I (reigned until 1153)—saw an influx of Anglo-Normans and Flemish, mainly south of the Forth and Clyde line and along the north-eastern Lowland strip as far as Moray. Gaelic was completely supplanted at court by Norman French. Clerics and scholars wrote in Latin. The Royal Burghs established by David I and his successors brought large numbers of foreign incomers speaking French, Flemish and various dialects of English. Gaelic was displaced to the rural north and west and the Isles, and to an extent the south-west (Adapted from Withers (1984)). Scots (at that time called “Inglis”) had started to emerged as the official language of government, law and literature—major works such as John Barbour’s (1375) The Brus, Blind Harry’s The Wallace (1488) (Discussed in some detail in B. C. Durie 2022), and the works of Adam Loutfut (ca. 1494) (B. Durie 2024) were written in what came to be called ‘Scottis’ (as against ‘Yrisch’ or ‘Erse’ meaning Gaelic). The earliest records of the Parliaments of Scotland are in Latin from 1235, some in French by the time of Margaret, Maid of Norway (1286–1290), and in Scots by the time of James I (1406–1437), and hardly any in Gaelic (although Gaelic names are usually preserved). Finally, legislation by James VI in 1609, known as the Statutes of Iona, required a number of actions aimed at the extinction of the Gaelic language and culture, including the outlawing of bards and a stipulation that the heirs of Highland Chiefs were to be educated in Lowland, Protestant schools, and in Scots not Gaelic (Cathcart 2010). It is notable that some chiefs, such as the MacDonalds of Clanranald, Keppoch, Glengarry, and Glencoe and MacLean of Morvern and Mull, remained steadfastly Roman Catholic and Gaelic speaking, while nine swore a solemn oath promising to be loyal to the King and to the laws of Scotland in the future (Figure 3):

The upshot is that Gaelic was very briefly the language of all of Scotland, but utterly supplanted in the Lowlands and at least the East and Middle Marches of the Borders. There is not the space or the need to expand here on the wearing of the kilt, originally in its great belted version (the philamor or feileadh mor) from the late 16th century and its replacement, especially in the military 200 years later by the short, pleated form (the philabeg or fèileadh beag), or on the existence of the Clan system in the Highlands and Islands which only really existed from Flodden (1513) to Culloden (1746).50

3. Discussion and Conclusions

The adoption of Highland costume, customs, mores, etc., by non-Highland origin is thus a form of cultural appropriation, fostered by either wilful connivance or ignorance by those who ought to (and often do) know better. It was driven by Romanticism, especially in the Victorian period (1838–1901).

3.1. Not Everyone in Scotland Is in a “Clan”

The clan is a social phenomenon of the Gaelic-speaking Highlands and Island and to an extent (the case could be made) replicated among the “Riding Clans” of the Borders and the West March (Dumfries and Galloway). In North America, not much more that 40% of people of Scots ancestry can claim to have their main surname associated with a Clan. More are Lowland or Borders Families.

There is no historical basis for claiming that:

• Scotland consists only of the Highlands and the Borders (is Dundee, say, in Borders?) and that therefore clans were found all over Scotland;
• The distinction between clans and families is a “Victorian invention”—in fact it is the contrary, as before 1822 and the subsequent Highland Revival, Lowlanders wanted nothing to do with Clans and the Highlands, which were considered barbaric;
• Everyone is in a clan—the chief of one of the premier names in Scotland (Bruce) dismisses this, and many other historically prominent Lowland surnames feel the same.

3.2. There Are Tensions Around All This

Members of Innes and Wallace societies, for example, both claim to be associated with “clans”, despite both being Lowland in origin. They are not alone in this. Some Innes individuals occasionally claim a form of primacy over M(a)cInnes and that McInnes is a “sept” of Innes51, even though the two are from opposite sides of Scotland and have completely different onomastic/etymological origins. Some Forbes individuals are insistent on being a “clan”, even though the Highland/Lowland line separates them from the neighbouring Gordons to the west,52 who may well be a clan (although they call themselves “House of Gordon”, somewhat confusing the issue).

3.3. The Need for a List

What is sorely needed is an authoritative list of Clans and Families, or at least a reasoned classification mechanism for deciding on these two appellations. One clear and objective method of arrangement is Highlands (Clans) and Lowlands (Families, Houses, etc.). The Borders poses problems of its own.

This would ideally be agreed by the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs and the Lyon Court, and be available to bodies such as the Scottish Government, VistScotland, COSCA and the organisers of Games and Gatherings, which would allow them to categorise.

There is no such official list of Clans and/or families in Scotland.

However, there are moves towards that end.