I have two recognizable “clan” names in my Scottish ancestry: Fraser and Campbell. It’s hard to know (and not sure I can even find out) to what extent my ancestors may have participated in the old clan system in the Highlands.
My Fraser ancestors came from Leslie and my Campbell ancestors came from Crieff (shown as X’s on the map below). Neither of these towns is, strictly speaking, in the Scottish “Highlands” – the region associated with the traditional Scottish clans.
In both cases, however, the villages they came from aren’t too far away from where their namesake clans supposedly came from. It’s possible that they were part of the clan system and evacuated to the lowlands areas during the clearances of the 1700’s.
This is a good article that explains it all in better detail.
