Clan Paterson

also Patterson

Son of Patrick, the Lowland patronymic of Scotland.

Origin: Lothian & Edinburgh, Scotland
Motto: Pro rege
Famous bearer: William Paterson (1658–1719), founder of the Bank of England, the Darien Scheme
Register: Scottish clan

Territory of Paterson

CoreHistoric reach

The seat of Clan Paterson

Seat vacant

Chief

No one leads the Clan Paterson community yet. When the movement opens, you can stand for its leadership, or help elect whoever does.

Current mission

No shared goal set yet. Once Clan Paterson has leadership, it sets the public focus: a restoration, a gathering, a real-world project that helps its own.

The Paterson clan is being rebuilt. Join the waiting list for the movement today, and you help decide who leads it and what it does.

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Motto

Pro rege

“For the king”

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.

Champions of the Paterson name

The bearers whose lives are inseparable from this surname. Each has its own page — biography, achievements, geography, connection to the family.

Banjo Paterson
The bush solicitor whose Waltzing Matilda became Australia's unofficial national anthem.

Step Into History

Walk the streets and seats the Paterson name knew — a photoreal walk through time, on foot.

Step Into History · New

Walk Edinburgh in 1511Enter →

The castle on its crag, St Giles' crown spire, and the closes tumbling to the Cowgate.

Step Into History · New

Walk St Andrews in 1450Enter →

Scotland's ecclesiastical capital at its peak — the great cathedral, the bishop's castle on the sea, and the new university.

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

Stories of Clan Paterson

Paterson and the Darien Scheme
1698
On the fourteenth of July 1698, on the deep-water anchorage of Leith Roads outside Edinburgh, five Scottish-built ships of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies (the Caledonia, Saint Andrew, Unicorn, Dolphin and Endeavour) sailed for the Isthmus of Panama with about twelve hundred settlers and the Scottish capital of about four hundred thousand pounds (about one-quarter of the total liquid capital of Scotland). The architect of the venture was William Paterson, forty years old, the Tinwald-Dumfriesshire-born founder (with Charles Montagu) of the Bank of England in 1694, who had spent the previous two years organising the Company's prospectus, capital-raising, and ship-fitting. The Darien colony at New Edinburgh on the Caribbean coast of Panama was meant to establish a trans-Isthmus trading entrepôt between the Atlantic and the Pacific economies. The colony collapsed within fourteen months: about a thousand of the twelve hundred settlers died of malaria, yellow fever and dysentery; the Spanish-imperial military authority refused to recognise the Scottish-Company territorial-claim; the English government, under William III's political pressure from the East India Company, refused all trading support. A second expedition of about thirteen hundred fresh Scottish settlers in 1699 produced the same outcome. The Company of Scotland lost its entire capital. The Scottish economy of the early eighteenth century was severely damaged. The Darien failure is, by every careful judgment of the historians of the Anglo-Scottish Union (T. M. Devine, Christopher Whatley), the foundational economic-political-cause of the Acts of Union of 1707: Scotland needed English economic assistance, and the English Crown needed Scottish political consent for the Hanoverian succession.
Read the story →

Frequently asked

What does the surname Paterson mean?

Where does the Paterson family come from?

The Paterson family is rooted in Lothian & Edinburgh and Fife, in Scotland. Within that, the name was particularly concentrated in Edinburgh and Fife. The atlas page for the name records the historical territory it has held over the centuries.

Where did the Paterson family historically hold territory?

At its greatest historical extent, the Paterson name has been concentrated in Midlothian and Lanarkshire. The atlas page distinguishes the core territory of the name from this wider historical reach with hatched silhouettes on the map.

Is Paterson a Scotland surname?

Yes, Paterson is a Scotland surname. Its editorial home in this atlas is Scotland, where the historical territory and family record of the name are concentrated.

How old is the Paterson surname?

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. European hereditary surnames crystallised broadly between the 12th and 14th centuries, and the Paterson name took its modern form within that long settlement.

What is the Paterson family known for?

Son of Patrick, the Lowland patronymic of Scotland. 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.

What is the Paterson motto?

The motto of the Paterson family is "Pro rege", which translates as "For the king". Family mottoes were registered with the chief of the name and carried on the heraldic arms and battle-banners.

What does "Pro rege" mean in English?

"Pro rege" is the motto of the Paterson family. In English it means "For the king". The phrase is typically rendered in Latin, though some Highland families carry their motto in Gaelic and some Norman lines in Old French.

Who is the most famous Paterson?

The best-known bearer of the Paterson name is William Paterson (1658–1719), founder of the Bank of England, the Darien Scheme. Other prominent figures of the family include Banjo Paterson (1864–1941), Australian poet ('Waltzing Matilda', 'The Man from Snowy River') and Bill Paterson (b. 1945), Scottish actor.

Who are some famous Patersons?

Notable bearers of the Paterson name include 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') and Bill Paterson (b. 1945), Scottish actor. Each is profiled on the family page, with cross-links to the geography, stories, and historical events tied to their life.

What stories are told about the Paterson family?

The Paterson family is associated with Paterson and the Darien Scheme. Each story has its own page on this site with the full account, the date, the location, and the other families involved.

What is the story of Paterson and the Darien Scheme?

On the fourteenth of July 1698, on the deep-water anchorage of Leith Roads outside Edinburgh, five Scottish-built ships of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies (the Caledonia, Saint Andrew, Unicorn, Dolphin and Endeavour) sailed for the Isthmus of Panama with about twelve hundred settlers and the Scottish capital of about four hundred thousand pounds (about one-quarter of the total liquid capital of Scotland). The architect of the venture was William Paterson, forty years old, the Tinwald-Dumfriesshire-born founder (with Charles Montagu) of the Bank of England in 1694, who had spent the previous two years organising the Company's prospectus, capital-raising, and ship-fitting. The event is dated to 1698.

Is Patterson the same family as Paterson?

Yes. Patterson is a historical spelling variant of the Paterson name. The two share the same lineage and family affiliation; different parishes, clerks and migration registrars recorded the same name in slightly different forms, and the variant spellings sit on the same family tree.

Where is the Paterson surname found today?

Scotland is the primary historical home of the Paterson surname. In the modern era, the name is also borne across the wider diaspora, particularly in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where families carry the line of descent from the same Scotland origin recorded on this page.

What does the Clan Rising page for the Paterson family cover?

The Clan Rising page for the Paterson family covers the meaning of the surname, the historical geography of the name, the family motto, famous bearers of the name, traditional stories and the seat of the head of the family. Each section is linked to the underlying atlas of Scotland so the name can be read in the geography that shaped it.

Who is the head of the Paterson family today?

The seat for the head of the Paterson family is currently vacant on this register. Clan Rising is rebuilding the chief and family structure for the modern era, and the family page allows readers to claim the seat or pledge to the name.