McFarland (surname)


McFarland, is a variation of MacFarlane that became popular in northern Ireland, but can be found worldwide. The home of the MacFarlane clan is the parish of Arrochar at the head of Loch Lomond and Loch Long at the beginning of the western Highlands in Scotland. This area was granted by feudal charter to one of the younger sons of the second earl of Lennox in 1286.  The history of this exchange is found in an old Celtic genealogy of Duncan, the eighth Earl of Lennox, who was executed in 1425. According to genealogical accounts, the first Earl of Lennox was Alwyn, followed by his son, also named Alwyn, in 1199 as the second Earl. This Alwyn had many sons, the eldest being Maldouen, the third Earl, who granted his younger brother, Gilchrist, the lands of Arrochar. Gilchrist's son Malduin was father to Parlan.  In 1344, Parlan's son, Malcolm MacPharlain, renewed the charter for the lands of Arrochar from Donald, the 6th Earl of Lennox. The spelling changed over many years and times. The earliest MacFarlanes in northern Ireland appeared in documents as "mcffarlan" but eventually McFarland became a dominant spelling there, and as men moved back and forth between Ireland and Scotland, the use of the "d" appeared in Scotland as well. In early America the spelling could be McFarlin, MacFarland, McFarlan, or McFarling.