The clan was denounced by the Government in 1594, to have committing theft, robbery, murder, and tyranny. Later, in 1624, after the Battle of Glen Fruin when the MacFarlanes and their friends the MacGregors killed about 80 members of Clan Colquhoun and their allies, several members of the clan were tried and convicted of such acts, with some being pardoned and others executed. Many others were removed to Aberdeenshire and Strathaven in Banffshire, where they assumed the names "M'Caudy", "Greisock", "M'James" and "M'Innes". Some to fled to Ireland, and with the famine there, emigrated further to America where the surname would evolve to McFarland.