Our Clan
Branches of one tree
Cadet families, a sept, and our MacEwen cousins: the many households that make up Clan MacLachlan.
Background photo: Kilmartin Glen and Dunadd
A few words first
Scottish clans were never just one surname. They were networks of related families, allies and dependants who looked to one chief. Three words help explain ours.
Cadet family
A branch descended from a younger son or cousin of the chief, often given land to manage. Cadets sometimes served other clans, too.
Sept
A family within a clan, linked by kinship, marriage or allegiance. Gilchrist is the sept of Clan MacLachlan.
Protected clan
A clan without a chief whose people placed themselves under another chief’s protection, as many MacEwens did with the MacLachlans.
The MacLachlan cadet families
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Settled near the west end of Loch Awe for about 300 years. For three generations they were hereditary physicians to the Earls of Argyll, sometimes using the names Leech and Leitch. An Archibald MacLachlan of Craiginterve sat in Parliament for Argyll in 1678.
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Hereditary captains, from 1613, of Inneschonnel Castle on an island in Loch Awe, the main fortress of the Campbells of Lochow. Descended from a younger brother of the laird of Craiginterve, they likely gave their allegiance to the Campbells.
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From 1436 they held Glasrie near Dunadd as the chief’s stewards, with a castle close to the old hill fort that was the first capital of the Scots. Kenneth MacLachlan of Keilaneuchanich raised recruits for the Jacobites in 1745. Seven generations held these lands.
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Settled at Kilbride near Oban and on the Garvellach isles. One member famously eloped with the Duke of Gordon’s daughter (see Legends).
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A branch of the Kilbride family near Kilmelford, with its own wailing brounie. The last of the line, John and Peter, served as officers in the wars in America.
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Hereditary standard bearers to Cameron of Lochiel, living on Loch Linnhe about four miles south of Fort William. Family members were Jacobite spies at Fort William in 1745, and one saved Lochiel’s banner at Culloden.
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An offshoot of Coruanan, granted Fassiefern in 1675. Its most famous son is Ewen MacLachlan (1775–1822), the renowned Gaelic poet and scholar.
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An old Stirlingshire family. By tradition John MacLachlan of Auchentroig raised 100 men for Bannockburn in 1314. Their 1702 house survived an attack by Rob Roy MacGregor. The line ended in 1884.
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Sir Gilbert MacLachlan was Chancellor of the cathedral of Lismore in the reign of James II, and was involved in a memorable confrontation with the Bishop.
The sept of Clan MacLachlan
The Gilchrists
Gilchrist means “servant of Christ” (Gaelic MacGilleChrìosd). It is the only sept name of Clan MacLachlan, and the name of the clan’s first chief.
Gilchrists appear in the records from 1132, witnessing grants to the abbeys of Paisley and Lennox. Gillascop MacGilchrist received a charter of lands from Alexander II in 1243, one of the oldest surviving Argyll charters, and Duncan MacGilchrist of Lennox did homage at Berwick in 1296. On Iona, the 8th-century St Martin’s Cross is often linked to a sculptor named Gilchrist.
The most common Gilchrist crest is a silver lion rampant holding a banner charged with a horse, with the motto Mea gloria fides, “Faith is my glory.”
Cousins and protected kin
The MacEwens
The MacEwens of Otter held lands on Loch Fyne just south of the MacLachlans and shared their descent from Anrothan O’Neill. Ewen comes from the Gaelic Eoghan, often translated “born of the yew.”
In 1432 Swene MacEwen, 9th and last of Otter, gave up his lands and barony to the Campbells, and the clan was scattered to Lennox, Lochaber, Perthshire, Skye and Galloway. Many families turned to their MacLachlan cousins, and for some five centuries the MacLachlan chiefs stood as their protectors. (A popular legend blames a Campbell feast and a massacre. The records point to unpaid debts.)
In 2025 the Lord Lyon recognized Sir John McEwen of Marchmont and Bardrochat as Chief of the Name and Arms of MacEwen, so Clan MacEwen once again has a chief of its own. MacEwens of every spelling remain warmly welcome in CMANA.
In March 2025 the Lord Lyon King of Arms recognized Sir John McEwen of Marchmont and Bardrochat, 5th Baronet, as Chief of the Name and Arms of MacEwen, beginning a new chiefly line for the clan after more than five centuries.
“We prefer to call ourselves simply Celtic MacLachlans.”
Irish or Scottish? We are one family.
Irish or Scottish? Both.
Because the clan descends from the kings of ancient Dál Riata, which spanned the north of Ireland and the west of Scotland, people often ask whether MacLachlans are Irish or Scottish. The honest answer is both. Our roots are older than either country. If your family came to North America as “Scotch-Irish” (more properly, Ulster Scots), or spells the name McLaughlin, you are just as welcome under the tent.
Which branch is yours?
Search the names, then let our Genealogist help you find your place.