Clan Maitland Society of North America

Maitlands are directly descended from the original Norman Mautalant who settled in Northumberland around 1130.  At that time it was part of Scotland.  The family settled at Thirlestane in Lauderdale about 1250, and branches became established in Aberdeeshire and Galloway around 1400.  Anyone who bears the name, or is descended from someone bearing the name is almost certainly a blood relative.  Some have taken the name, from choice, or as descendants of former slaves.

Lauderdales, mainly an American family, have clear evidence of their descent from the Maitlands.

Maitlen and Maizlen are also considered variants of Maitland.  Medlins whose family comes from Scotland are almost certainly Maitlands, but other Medlins whose family come from England may be from a different family.

We maintain close links with our kin in Scotland, England, France, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Isreal.  Others live in Argentine and Uruguay.

Brief Origins

Maitlands are descended from a Mautalent of Norman origin in Northumberland around 130 as a vassal of the King of Scotland.

Mautalents bear the original and earliest name of the family, and originate in the villages of Les Moitiers d'Allone and Carterest in the Cotentin Peninsula of Normand 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 the first recorded there as Aramonet de Mautalent, an official carrying out the Census of 1385 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 southwest 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 the distinguished American pioneer family of that name.  Fort Lauderdale, and a number of American counties are directly linked with the family.  James Maitland Lauderdale is known simply as "The Immigrant".