Clan Donald (MacDonald)

Basic Info.

MacDonald Clan Crest

Clan Donald (MacDonald)

Gaelic Name: MacDhomhnuill
Motto: Per mare per terras (By sea and by land)
Badge: Heather
Lands: The Western Isles
Origin of Name: Gaelic, Domhnull (World ruler)
Historic Seat: Finlaggan Castle, Islay
Clan Chief: The Rt. Hon. The Lord MacDonald

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Tartan

MacDonald Tartan

MacDonald Modern

MacDonald Clan tartan

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Clan History

Grave site for the clan on the battlefield at Culloden

Grave site at Culloden

Clan Donald History

Magnus Barefoot, the King of Norway, sailed across the North Sea in 1098 to re-establish his country’s power in Celtic lands.

He made an agreement with Edgar, King of Scots, that he would settle for all the islands of the west coast he could reach whilst his boat’s rudder was in a fixed position.

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Clan Lands

MacDonald Lands

MacDonald Map – from Gill Humphrys’ Clan Map of Scotland

we have created a google map for this Clan showing Clan Lands and Places.
View map >>

Clan Donald Branches

Clan MacDonald Branches

There is also MacDonald of Glencoe, MacDonald of Antrim, MacDonald of Dunnyveg & the Glens and MacDonald of Ardnamurchan. Sorry we don’t have sections for these branches yet.

Clan MacDonald or Clan Donald? Which is Correct?

This can be quite confusing, especially for people who may be new to discovering their clan heritage. People who have connections with the surname ‘MacDonald’ might wonder why, for instance there is no ‘Clan MacDonald’ tent at their local clan gathering. The answer is simple – what you are looking for is ‘Clan Donald’

So why don’t we just change these pages to be ‘Clan Donald’? Well for precisely that reason – we know that the vast majority of our users may be discovering their clan heritage for the first time – if they are connected to the name ‘MacDonald’ that is what they will search for - and that’s where we are. But now you are here it is of course correct to refer to your CLAN as ‘Clan Donald’