Scottish Family Names B
BAIRD
NAME ON MAP: BARDE OLD COUNTY: Lanarkshire DATE: 1315 MEANING: GAELIC `bard, poet, singer'. Legend has it that the family's fortunes were founded when William the Lion (1165‑1214) granted land to a retainer who saved him from being killed by a wild boar. A Richard Bard is later recorded in Lanarkshire and Robert the Bruce granted the barony of Cambusnethan in the same county to a Robert Barde. It was from his family that the Bairds of Banffshire and Aberdeenshire later descended.
BALFOUR
NAME ON MAP: BALFURE OLD COUNTY: Fife (inset map) DATE: 1304 MEANING: the name is territorial from the barony in Fife and probably derives from GOIDELIC baile `settlement' and phùir `pasture'. John de Balfure is the first on record from 1304.
BARCLAY
NAME ON MAP: BERKELAI OLD COUNTY: Aberdeenshire DATE: 1165 MEANING: OLD ENGLISH beorc leah `birch wood'. The name of the Norman family which held Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, England. John de Berkelai came north before 1100 and his three sons held Gartly, Towie‑Barclay and Ardrossan. Sir Walter Barkelai of Gartly was Chamberlain of Scotland. For reasons of space, only the Towie line is shown on the map.
BISSET
NAME ON MAP: BYSET OLD COUNTY: Inverness DATE: 1242 MEANING: the NORMAN‑FRENCH name first appears in Scotland as Henricus de Byset in 1198; it meant `darkish, brownish, greyish'. Henricus's son, John, acquired vast holdings around Loch Ness, but Bisset power suddenly collapsed after 1242 when Walter Byset, after losing to the Earl of Atholl in a tournament, vented his spleen by burning down the house where Atholl was sleeping. The king banished Walter and his male heirs, leaving the Bisset lands in the possession of the female line who eventually brought the lands by marriage into the Chisholm and Fraser of Lovat families. The Bisset lands which passed to the Frasers at about the date of this map as shown as Byset/Freser.
BOYD
NAME ON MAP: BOYT OLD COUNTY: Ayrshire DATE: 1296 MEANING: probably from GOIDELIC buidhe `yellow', the nickname of the blond‑haired Simon, nephew of the first High Steward of Scotland, Walter Fitzalan. A derivation from the island of Bute has also been suggested. The family supported Robert the Bruce, Duncan Boyd being hanged by the English in 1306 and Sir Robert de Boyt fighting at Bannockburn. See the entry for Stewart.
BOYLE
NAME ON MAP: BOIUIL OLD COUNTY: Ayrshire DATE: 1170 MEANING: from the NORMAN de Boyville family, originally from Beauville(NORMAN‑FRENCH beautiful manor') in Normandy. A David de Boiuil is recorded between 1164‑74, the change in form being due to the letter `V' being read as `U'.
BRODIE
NAME ON MAP: see under place‑names. HISTORY: an alternative tradition derives the clan name from an ancient Pictish king called Brude, who welcomed St Columba in the 6th century, or a later king of the same name. A Michael de Brothie received a charter from Robert the Bruce in 1311.
BRUCE
NAME ON MAP: BRUS OLD COUNTY: Stirling/Fife; Dumfries DATE: 13th century MEANING: from Sir Robert de Bruis who accompanied William the Conqueror to England in 1066. He may have come from Brouize (possibly OLD FRENCH `muddy') or Le Brus (possibly GAULISH `heath' or OLD FRENCH `maple'); both places are in Normandy. His son was created first Lord of Annandale. See the historical introduction.
BUCHAN
NAME ON MAP: see under place‑names. HISTORY: alternatively the name may have come from the ancient Pictish Mormaers of the region. A cleric, Ricardus de Buchan, is mentioned in c.1207 and a William de Buchan in 1282.
BUCHANAN
NAME ON MAP: CANONACH (in GAELIC ) OLD COUNTY: Stirling MEANING: GOIDELIC buth chanain `the cannon's seat', the name of an area just east of Loch Lomond. Malcolm II granted the lands in the early 11th century to the Irish chieftain Anselan O'Kyan, who had come across the water to help Malcolm in his struggles against the Vikings. The original clan name was MacAuslan `son of Anselan'.
BURNETT
NAME ON MAP: BURNET OLD COUNTY: Kincardine DATE: 14th century MEANING: OLD ENGLISH beorn heard `warrior brave' or `bear brave'. In England the name became Bernard. A Roger Bunard is recorded in c.1200; Alexander Bunard or Burnet was granted lands in Kincardineshire by Robert the Bruce.