Scottish Last Names
Scottish last names carry the story of the clans, the Highland Gaelic tradition and the Lowland Scots, English and Norman families who settled south of the Forth. The famous prefix Mac (or Mc) simply means “son of,” so MacDonald is “son of Donald” and MacGregor “son of Gregor.”
Below you’ll find more than 120 Scottish surnames with their meanings and the clan or region each is linked to, plus a pronunciation guide for the ones that trip everyone up. For first names, see Scottish boy names and Scottish girl names, or explore the wider family of Irish last names, which share many Gaelic roots.
The most common Scottish last names
These surnames top Scotland’s birth, marriage and death records year after year. Several, like Smith and Brown, are shared with England, but Robertson, Thomson and Campbell are thoroughly Scottish.
| Surname | Meaning | Clan / region |
|---|---|---|
| Smith | Metalworker | Nationwide |
| Brown | Brown-haired or brown-skinned | Nationwide |
| Wilson | Son of Will | Lowlands |
| Robertson | Son of Robert | Clan Donnachaidh, Perthshire |
| Thomson | Son of Thomas | Lowlands and Borders |
| Campbell | Crooked mouth (Gaelic cam beul) | Clan Campbell, Argyll |
| Stewart | Steward (royal household officer) | Royal House of Stewart |
| Anderson | Son of Andrew | Nationwide |
| Scott | A Scot, a Gaelic speaker | Clan Scott, Borders |
| Murray | From Moray | Clan Murray, Atholl |
| Reid | Red-haired | Lowlands |
| Taylor | Tailor | Nationwide |
| Clark | Clerk, scholar | Nationwide |
| Ross | Headland, promontory | Clan Ross, Easter Ross |
| Young | Young, the younger | Lowlands |
| Mitchell | Form of Michael | Lowlands |
| Watson | Son of Wat (Walter) | Lowlands |
| Paterson | Son of Patrick | Nationwide |
| Morrison | Son of Maurice, or servant of Mary | Clan Morrison, Lewis |
| Walker | Cloth fuller | Lowlands |
| Henderson | Son of Henry | Caithness and Lowlands |
| Duncan | Dark warrior | Clan Donnachaidh |
Mac and Mc clan surnames
Gaelic patronymics are the most recognizably Scottish names of all. Mac and Mc are the same prefix; the spelling was often just a clerk’s choice.
| Surname | Meaning | Clan / region |
|---|---|---|
| MacDonald | Son of Donald (“world ruler”) | Clan Donald, Isles |
| MacLeod | Son of Leod (Norse Ljótr, “ugly”) | Clan MacLeod, Skye and Lewis |
| MacGregor | Son of Gregor | Clan Gregor; Rob Roy MacGregor |
| MacKenzie | Son of Coinneach (“handsome”) | Clan Mackenzie, Ross-shire |
| MacKay | Son of Aodh (“fire”) | Clan Mackay, Sutherland |
| MacLean | Son of the servant of Saint John | Clan MacLean, Mull |
| MacPherson | Son of the parson | Clan Macpherson, Badenoch |
| MacIntosh | Son of the chief (toiseach) | Clan Mackintosh, Inverness |
| MacKinnon | Son of Fionghuin (“fair-born”) | Clan Mackinnon, Skye |
| MacDougall | Son of Dougal (“dark stranger”) | Clan MacDougall, Lorn |
| MacNeil | Son of Niall (“champion”) | Clan MacNeil, Barra |
| MacAllister | Son of Alasdair | Clan MacAlister, Kintyre |
| MacArthur | Son of Arthur | Argyll |
| MacFarlane | Son of Parlan (Bartholomew) | Clan MacFarlane, Loch Lomond |
| MacMillan | Son of the tonsured one | Clan MacMillan |
| MacNab | Son of the abbot | Clan Macnab, Perthshire |
| MacQueen | Son of Suibhne | Clan MacQueen |
| MacRae | Son of grace | Clan Macrae, Kintail |
| MacLachlan | Son of Lachlan (“from the land of lochs”) | Clan MacLachlan, Argyll |
| MacAulay | Son of Olaf | Lewis and Dunbartonshire |
| MacNaughton | Son of Nechtan (“pure”) | Clan Macnaghten |
| McCall | Son of Cathal (“battle rule”) | Galloway |
| McBride | Son of the servant of Saint Bride | Galloway |
| McMurray | Son of Muireach (“mariner”) | Galloway |
| MacInnes | Son of Angus | Clan MacInnes, Morvern |
| MacEwen | Son of Eoghan | Clan MacEwen, Cowal |
| MacGillivray | Son of the servant of judgment | Clan MacGillivray |
| MacLaren | Son of Laurence | Clan MacLaren, Balquhidder |
| MacBain | Son of Beathan (“life”) | Clan MacBean |
Highland clan names without Mac
Many great Highland clans took their names from places, ancestors or Norman forebears rather than a Mac patronymic. Several of these double as first names on our Scottish boy names list.
| Surname | Meaning | Clan / region |
|---|---|---|
| Fraser | Possibly from French fraise, “strawberry” | Clan Fraser, Inverness-shire |
| Munro | Man from the Roe river (Ireland), possibly | Clan Munro, Easter Ross |
| Grant | Great, tall (French grand) | Clan Grant, Strathspey |
| Gordon | Great hill fort | Clan Gordon, Aberdeenshire |
| Cameron | Crooked nose (cam shròn) | Clan Cameron, Lochaber |
| Chisholm | Gravel island meadow | Clan Chisholm, Strathglass |
| Sutherland | Southern land (Norse view) | Clan Sutherland |
| Sinclair | From Saint-Clair in Normandy | Clan Sinclair, Caithness |
| Buchanan | House of the canon | Clan Buchanan, Loch Lomond |
| Drummond | Ridge, high ground | Clan Drummond, Perthshire |
| Lamont | Lawman (Norse lagamaðr) | Clan Lamont, Cowal |
| Forbes | Field, district | Clan Forbes, Aberdeenshire |
| Ogilvy | High plain | Clan Ogilvy, Angus |
| Macnicol | Son of Nicol | Clan MacNicol, Skye |
| Gunn | War (Norse gunnr) | Clan Gunn, Caithness |
| Keith | Wood (Brythonic) | Clan Keith, Earls Marischal |
| Graham | Gravelly homestead | Clan Graham, Montrose |
Lowland and Border surnames
The Borders were home to the reiving families who raided back and forth across the English frontier for centuries. Their names are short, tough and memorable.
| Surname | Meaning | Clan / region |
|---|---|---|
| Armstrong | Strong in the arm | Liddesdale reivers |
| Elliot | From Ellot (river name) | Border reivers |
| Kerr | Thicket, marshy ground (Norse kjarr) | Border family, Jedburgh |
| Johnstone | John’s farmstead | Annandale |
| Maxwell | Maccus’s pool on the Tweed | Dumfriesshire |
| Douglas | Black stream (dubh glas) | Clan Douglas, Lanarkshire |
| Hume | Holm, river island | Berwickshire |
| Rutherford | Cattle ford | Roxburghshire |
| Turnbull | Turn the bull (legendary feat) | Borders |
| Pringle | Pilgrim’s hope, or peregrine (uncertain) | Borders |
| Hamilton | Crooked hill | Lanarkshire |
| Cunningham | Possibly “village of the rabbits” | Ayrshire |
| Kennedy | Ugly head, or helmeted head | Clan Kennedy, Ayrshire |
| Wallace | Welshman, Briton | William Wallace |
| Bruce | From Brix in Normandy | Robert the Bruce |
| Lindsay | Lincoln’s island | Angus and Lanarkshire |
| Crawford | Crow ford | Ayrshire and Lanarkshire |
| Montgomery | Mount of Gomeric (Norman) | Ayrshire |
| Lockhart | Enclosure herdsman (disputed) | Lanarkshire |
| Haig | Hedged enclosure | Bemersyde, Borders |
| Moffat | Long plain | Dumfriesshire |
| Jardine | Garden (French jardin) | Dumfriesshire |
| Carruthers | Fort of Rhydderch | Annandale |
Scottish surnames from places and trades
Many surnames simply record where a family lived or what it did for a living.
| Surname | Meaning | Clan / region |
|---|---|---|
| Lennox | Place of elm trees | Dunbartonshire earldom |
| Galbraith | Stranger Briton | Clan Galbraith, Stirlingshire |
| Dunbar | Summit fort | East Lothian |
| Kirk | Church | Lowlands |
| Baxter | Baker (female or Scots form) | Angus and Fife |
| Dewar | Custodian of a saint’s relic | Perthshire |
| Brewster | Brewer | Lowlands |
| Webster | Weaver | Lowlands |
| Sangster | Singer | Aberdeenshire |
| Stirling | From Stirling | Stirlingshire |
| Leslie | Holly garden (possibly) | Clan Leslie, Aberdeenshire |
| Balfour | Pasture village | Fife |
| Weir | Dam, fish trap | Lanarkshire |
| Gilchrist | Servant of Christ | Argyll and Galloway |
| Gillespie | Servant of the bishop | Argyll |
| Aitken | Little Adam | Lowlands |
| Nairn | From Nairn | Moray Firth |
| Annan | From Annan (river name) | Dumfriesshire |
How to pronounce tricky Scottish surnames
Scots spelling preserves sounds that have since changed, and some names are famously not said the way they look.
| Surname | Pronunciation | Meaning / note |
|---|---|---|
| Menzies | MING-iss | From Mesnières, Normandy; the z stands for the old letter yogh (ȝ) |
| Dalziel | dee-ELL | White meadow; yogh again, now silent |
| Colquhoun | kuh-HOON | Narrow wood; Clan Colquhoun of Loch Lomond |
| Farquharson | FAR-kur-sun | Son of Farquhar (“dear man”); Braemar |
| Urquhart | UR-kurt | Fort by the woods; Cromarty |
| Strachan | STRAWN or STRAKH-an | Little valley; Aberdeenshire |
| Auchinleck | AFF-leck (traditional) | Field of the flat stones; Ayrshire |
| Marjoribanks | MARCH-banks | Lands granted to Marjorie Bruce |
| Cockburn | KOH-burn | Rooster’s stream; Lothian |
| Ruthven | RIV-en | Red river; Perthshire |
| Wemyss | WEEMZ | Caves (Gaelic uamh); Fife |
Tips for researching a Scottish last name
- Don’t assume a surname means clan descent. Many people took the name of the clan chief whose land they lived on, whether related or not.
- Mac, Mc and M’ are the same prefix. Search all three spellings in census and parish records.
- Start with ScotlandsPeople, the official archive of Scottish parish registers (pre-1855) and statutory records (1855 onward).
- Look for the patronymic trail: in the Highlands and Isles, fixed surnames came late, so a MacDonald in 1750 might have a father listed only by first name.
- If your name is Ulster-Scots (McCall, Kerr, Johnstone), check Northern Irish records too, since many families crossed back and forth.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common last name in Scotland?
Smith is the most common surname in Scotland, followed by Brown, Wilson, Robertson, Thomson and Campbell according to National Records of Scotland lists.
What does Mac mean in Scottish last names?
Mac is Gaelic for “son,” so MacDonald means “son of Donald.” Mc is simply an abbreviated spelling of the same prefix and does not indicate Irish versus Scottish origin.
Is Mc Scottish or Irish?
Both. Mac and Mc are used in Scotland and Ireland alike; the idea that Mc is Irish and Mac Scottish is a myth.
How do you pronounce Menzies?
Traditionally MING-iss. The z in names like Menzies and Dalziel stands in for an old Scots letter called yogh, which sounded like a y or soft g.
Does every Scottish surname belong to a clan?
No. Highland surnames are often associated with a clan, but many Lowland names (Smith, Taylor, Walker) are occupational and never had a clan.