Clan Cameron

Wikipedia says the origin of the chiefly family is uncertain and sets out three ideas: a legendary descent from Banquo, a nickname meaning 'crooked nose' borne by an early chief, and a descent from the Camerons or Cambruns of Ballegarno in Fife. It calls the first a fanciful legend and records no document for any of them.

The association's own pages read here do not offer an origin account. Its sept page does say that the Chalmers and Chambers names are said to come from a Cameron who served in France, which is a tradition the page itself reports.

The best-known thread is the feud with the Mackintoshes of Clan Chattan over Lochaber lands. Wikipedia places its first recorded battle at Drumlui in 1337, mentions Invernahavon in 1370 and ends it with a standoff at the Fords of Arkaig in 1665. The Macphersons, part of Clan Chattan, appear on the other side at Invernahavon in Clan Macpherson's account, which says the Camerons were defeated there. The association's list gives that battle as 1370 or 1387 and also lists a Raid on Ross in 1491, naming it without detail; for the clan of that region see Clan Ross.

In the Jacobite rising Wikipedia says Lochiel, Gentle Lochiel, brought the clan out in 1745 and fled to France after Culloden. The house at Achnacarry built about 1655 was burned afterwards and a new mansion was built in 1802.

The association's list of battles also gives the Battle of Harlaw in 1411, Inverlochy in 1431, Corpach in 1439, the Rebellion of Donald Dubh in 1503, Flodden in 1513, Glenlivet in 1594, Killiecrankie in 1689, Sheriffmuir in 1715 and Glenshiel in 1719, and dates the Battle of Culloden to 16 April 1746. It gives names and dates only, so which side the clan took in each, and in what numbers, is not established here. The association's genealogy pages offer immigration records for Camerons who went to North America between 1730 and 1920 and a study of Cameron and MacPhee marriages in Lochaber from 1802 to 1875.

No Cameron tartan is held as a record on this site because the register threadcounts could not be read from an open primary source. Wikipedia lists several: Cameron of Erracht, which it says began as the 79th Regiment's tartan, a basic Clan Cameron, Cameron of Lochiel and a hunting Cameron, and says a Cameron tartan was published in the Vestiarium Scoticum in 1845. Those are Wikipedia's statements and the register entries were not checked.

The association's list is the longest of any clan added here and includes place-qualified entries. Seven are recorded as uncertain links on the association's list alone: Stronach, which it says is taken from the Camerons of Strone, MacPhee of Glendessary, MacMillan of Murlaggan and Caillich, MacLachlan of Coruanan, Kennedy of Lianachan, Chalmers and Clark. The association notes that Clark and its variants are also claimed by Clan Chattan, more specifically the Mackintoshes. It says anyone bearing one of its names is entitled to join; the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs says each chief decides who is a sept and that there is no central register.

The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs says there are no strict rules on who may wear a tartan and that wearing a clan tartan signals allegiance to the chief. The Clan Cameron Association says Camerons, people of Cameron ancestry and people from the sept families may join, which is an invitation to the association and not a rule about tartan.

No Cameron surname page is published on this site yet; it would need an independently sourced account of the name's origin before it can pass the indexability gate. The septs above are the association's affiliations, recorded as uncertain.