The New Student's Reference Work/Clan

Clan (meaning children), a name given to men banded together because of having a common ancestor or because of any other tie; but the word almost always means the divisions of the Scottish Highlanders. The clan was made up of men dwelling together or having a common surname. The affix Mac (meaning son) was a common one among Scottish Gaels: the Macdonalds were the sons of Donald. The members of a clan were usually not all blood-kin; men of various births were in the habit of enlisting under chiefs as men now enlist in a regiment, often taking the chief's name, but often not. The clan was really a military band for self-defense and for pillage. The Scottish law required all clans to have, if possible, a man of rank and property at their head, who could be held responsible for their good conduct. Clans which could find no security were called broken clans; their members were outlaws, and might be hunted down like wild beasts. The McGregors were a noted broken clan; their name was proscribed, and clansmen who wished to live peaceably in the lowlands, changed it slightly, calling themselves Gregor, Gregory, Grierson, etc. In general the great landowners were also mighty chiefs; men from broken clans were often received by the chief into the clan by bonds of man-rent, under which they engaged to follow their captain in all his feuds and quarrels, this being a form of the feudal system. But often the landlord was not the chief, and against his will the people of a clan usually followed their chieftain. The clan's name was kept up, as a reminder of past times, long after the tribal system had died out. The Scottish rebellions of 1715 and 1745 induced the British government to suppress or break up the connection that existed between the clansmen and their tribal or family chiefs.