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Clan Maitland
Crest: A lion sejant affrontée Gules, ducally crowned Proper, in his dexter paw a sword Proper hilted pommelled Or, in his sinister a fleur de lis Azure
Motto: Consilio Et Animis (By wisdom and courage)
Historic Seat: Thirlestane Castle, Borders
Clan Chief: Ian Maitland, 18th Earl of Lauderdale
Associated Names
Lauderdale, Maitland, Maltland, Mateland, Matelande, Matheland, Matilland, Matillande, Matlain, Matland, Mauteland, Mautelande, Mautelent, Mautlent, Metellan, Metlan, and Mettlin
Lauderdales, mainly an American family, have clear evidence of their descent from the Maitlands. Maitlen and Maizlan are also considered variants of Maitland. Medlins whose family comes from Scotland are almost certainly Maitlands, but other Medlins whose family came from England may be from a different family.
Mautalents bear the original and earliest name of the family, and originate in the villages of Les Moitiers d’Allonne and Carteret in the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy in northern France. Mautalents also had fiefs in Jersey and Guernsey in the early Middle Ages. Members of the family live in Normandy to this day. Mautalens live in the Bearn area of southern France near Pau in the Pyrenees and used the name Mautalent until the 18th century, They probably migrated from Normandy to Bearn around 1300. They are first recorded there as Aramonet de Mautalent, an official carrying out the Census of 1385 in Bearn, and have lived in the area since then. Lauderdale first appears in the records as a family name in Scotland in 1737, with the baptism of Jean Lauderdale at Beith in Ayr, the daughter of James Lauderdale.
Lauderdales in the USA are mainly descended from James Maitland who originated in Galloway in south-west Scotland and migrated to Ulster before moving to Pennsylvania in the American colonies in 1714. At some stage he changed his name to Lauderdale, and founded a distinguished American pioneer family of that name. Fort Lauderdale, and a number of American counties are directly linked with the family.