page_title: Clan MacLaren
section_title: Origins of the clan
hierarchical_section_title: Clan MacLaren / History / Origins of the clan
caption_attribution_description: "Mac Laurin". A plate illustrated by R. R. McIan, from James Logan's The Clans of the Scottish Highlands, published in 1845.
context_page_description: Clan MacLaren is a Highland Scottish clan. Traditional clan lands include the old parish of Balquhidder which includes the villages of Lochearnhead and Strathyre, and is about 18 miles long and 7 miles broad, spanning 54,675 acres, long known as "Maclaren Country".
context_section_description: There are two quite separate possible origins for the surname MacLaren. One of these comes from the county of Perthshire while the other comes from the island of Tiree in Argyll. In Argyll the MacLaren family is said to be descended from Fergus MacErc, founder of the kingdom of Dál Riata. In Scottish Gaelic the clan name is Clann Labhruinn. However the ancestor of the MacLarens is generally given as Laurence, Abbot of Achtow in Balquhidder, who lived during the thirteenth century. Balquhidder was part of the ancient princedom of Strathern whose heraldry is shown in the heraldry of the MacLarens. The heraldry borne by the clan suggests that they descend from a cadet branch of the dynasty of the Earls of Strathearn.
  Modern scholarly research by Ronnie and Máire Black, shows that the Abbot of Achtow in Balquhidder, never existed, turns out he is found in the Clan MacLaverty genealogy not a MacLaren genealogy.
  There is also a tradition that the MacLarens fought at the Battle of the Standard under Malise I, Earl of Strathearn, for David I of Scotland.
caption: A romanticised Victorian-era illustration of a MacLaurin clansman by R. R. McIan from The Clans of the Scottish Highlands published in 1845.
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