Scottish Family Names T-Z

URQUHART

NAME ON MAP: URQUHART OLD COUNTY: Ross and Cromarty DATE: 1358 MEANING: a territorial name (see place‑name). The clan's early history is obscure, but at the beginning of the 14th century William de Urchard was Sheriff of Cromarty. Adam Urquhart had a grant of the sheriffdom of Crombathie in 1358.

WALLACE

NAME ON MAP: WALLEIS OLD COUNTY: Ayr/Renfrew (inset map) DATE: 13th century MEANING: Welsh. Ultimately the name derives from ANGLO‑SAXON walas `foreigner', the term applied by the Anglo‑Saxons to any inhabitants of Britain who couldn't speak their language. The family's ancestor may have been a Welshman who accompanied Walter FitzAlan (see the entry for Stewart) when he came north from Shropshire, England, or he may have been a native from the old British kingdom of Strathclyde. Richard Walensis of Riccarton was recorded in c.1170. His great‑great‑grandson, born in 1274, was the great patriot William Wallace (see historical introduction).