Clan Paterson
also Patterson
Son of Patrick — the Lowland patronymic of Scotland.
CoreHistoric reach
The seat of Clan Paterson
Seat vacantChief
No chief yet. The seat awaits its first claimant — be the first to stake your name to Clan Paterson.
Current mission
No mission proclaimed. The chief, once seated, sets the clan’s public focus — a campaign, a contest, a piece of restoration, a year of remembrance.
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Stake your name →What does the Paterson name mean?
Patronymic — son of Patrick (the Latin Patricius, 'noble'). Patrick was a common mediaeval Scottish first name on account of Saint Patrick — himself a Roman Briton, possibly born in modern Strathclyde — and through Norman influence as well. The patronymic Paterson is densely Scottish-Lowland in modern distribution; the spelling Patterson (double-t) is commoner among Scottish-Irish-American families. The Patersons descend from multiple distinct lines and never formed a single clan.
The history of Clan Paterson
Paterson is among the top-25 surnames of Scotland, with the densest concentrations in Edinburgh, Fife, the Lothians and Lanarkshire — the Lowland heartland of pre-industrial Scottish surname distribution. The surname was carried in heavy numbers into Plantation Ulster and through Ulster into the 18th-century Pennsylvania and Virginia diaspora; the Pittsburgh-Patterson line and Andrew Jackson's Patterson cousins (with the double-t spelling) were all Ulster-Scots-Patersons originally.
William Paterson (1658–1719), the Tinwald, Dumfriesshire-born financier, was the principal founder of the Bank of England in 1694 and the moving force behind the Darien Scheme — the disastrous 1690s Scottish colonial venture in Panama whose collapse led directly to the Acts of Union of 1707. Andrew Barton 'Banjo' Paterson (1864–1941), the Australian poet and journalist, wrote 'Waltzing Matilda', 'The Man from Snowy River' and 'Clancy of the Overflow' — the foundational works of Australian literary nationalism. Bill Paterson (b. 1945), the Glasgow-born actor of Comfort and Joy, Local Hero and Outlander, is a leading contemporary Scottish stage and screen actor.
Notable bearers of the Paterson name
- William Paterson (1658–1719) — founder of the Bank of England, the Darien Scheme
- Banjo Paterson (1864–1941) — Australian poet ('Waltzing Matilda', 'The Man from Snowy River')
- Bill Paterson (b. 1945) — Scottish actor