Clan Laing

Clan Story

The Laing Legacy

Laing is a Scots-language surname meaning "long" or "tall," used descriptively rather than derived from a place or common ancestor, which explains why families bearing it emerged independently across Orkney, Caithness, Fife, Lanarkshire, and the Borders. Written records go back to the fourteenth century; a Thomas Laing is noted helping fund King David II's ransom after the Battle of Neville's Cross in 1346, and Laings later served as Edinburgh notaries, clergy, and Fife burgh merchants and craftsmen through the following centuries. Unlike Highland clans built around a chiefly family and shared territory, Laing never formed a single chiefly line recognized by the Lord Lyon, and no clan seat or chief - historical or current - is documented. The name's best-known bearer is David Laing (1790-1878), an antiquary whose editorial work underpins much of what is known about Scotland's historical record.

The Laing surname derives from Older Scots/Anglo-Norman 'lang' (tall); the earliest record is William Lange, who rendered homage to Edward I of England in 1296 at Berwick. A notable early bearer is John Laing (d. 1483), Bishop of Glasgow and Chancellor of Scotland. Laing is recognized as a sept of Clan Colquhoun.