Clan Sinclair

also St Clair

Earls of Orkney and Caithness, and builders of Rosslyn.

Origin: The Highlands & Islands, Scotland
Motto: Commit thy work to God
Famous bearer: Sir William Sinclair, founder of Rosslyn Chapel
Register: Scottish clan

Territory of Sinclair

The seat of Clan Sinclair

Seat vacant

Chief

No one leads the Clan Sinclair 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 Sinclair has leadership, it sets the public focus: a restoration, a gathering, a real-world project that helps its own.

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

Help rebuild the Sinclair clan →

Motto

Commit thy work to God

What does the Sinclair name mean?

From Saint-Clair-sur-Elle in Normandy. The family came to Scotland with the Normans in the 12th century and rose to hold the earldoms of Orkney and Caithness.

The history of Clan Sinclair

The Sinclairs came to Britain from Saint-Clair-sur-Elle in Normandy. By the 14th century they held the earldom of Orkney from the Norwegian crown, and from 1455 the earldom of Caithness from the Scottish crown.

Sir William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness, founded Rosslyn Chapel in the mid-15th century, its richly carved interior the subject of centuries of speculation about Templar and Masonic connections.

The Sinclairs of Caithness held their lands at the very north of mainland Scotland and remained a power in the region into the modern era; cadet branches spread across Scotland, Scandinavia and the New World.

Champions of the Sinclair name

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

Sir John Sinclair
The Caithness baronet who invented the modern social survey and produced The Statistical Account of Scotland, the first comprehensive description of a country by its own inhabitants.

Notable bearers of the Sinclair name

Sir William Sinclair, founder of Rosslyn Chapel

Stories of Clan Sinclair

Rosslyn Chapel
1446
Sir William Sinclair, third and last Earl of Orkney, founded the Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew at Roslin, seven miles south of Edinburgh, in 1446. The carving programme that followed ran for forty years and produced an interior of unique density: every pillar, boss, archstone and capital crowded with foliage, angels, beasts, biblical scenes and faces, including forms some have read as American maize and aloe carved decades before Columbus. The Apprentice Pillar in the south-east of the chapel carries the building's most famous folk-story, of a master mason who killed his own apprentice with a mallet on returning from Rome to find the boy had carved the pillar from a dream. Templar and Masonic associations have been read into Rosslyn for two centuries; the chapel has carried them all and remains itself.
Read the story →

Frequently asked

What does the surname Sinclair mean?

From Saint-Clair-sur-Elle in Normandy. The family came to Scotland with the Normans in the 12th century and rose to hold the earldoms of Orkney and Caithness. The Sinclairs came to Britain from Saint-Clair-sur-Elle in Normandy.

Where does the Sinclair family come from?

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

Is Sinclair a Scotland surname?

Yes, Sinclair 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 Sinclair surname?

The Sinclairs came to Britain from Saint-Clair-sur-Elle in Normandy. European hereditary surnames crystallised broadly between the 12th and 14th centuries, and the Sinclair name took its modern form within that long settlement.

What is the Sinclair family known for?

Earls of Orkney and Caithness, and builders of Rosslyn. The Sinclairs came to Britain from Saint-Clair-sur-Elle in Normandy.

What is the Sinclair motto?

The motto of the Sinclair family is "Commit thy work to God". Family mottoes were registered with the chief of the name and carried on the heraldic arms and battle-banners.

Who is the most famous Sinclair?

The best-known bearer of the Sinclair name is Sir William Sinclair, founder of Rosslyn Chapel. Their life and connection to the family are profiled in full on the dedicated champion page.

What stories are told about the Sinclair family?

The Sinclair family is associated with Rosslyn Chapel. 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 Rosslyn Chapel?

Sir William Sinclair, third and last Earl of Orkney, founded the Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew at Roslin, seven miles south of Edinburgh, in 1446. The carving programme that followed ran for forty years and produced an interior of unique density: every pillar, boss, archstone and capital crowded with foliage, angels, beasts, biblical scenes and faces, including forms some have read as American maize and aloe carved decades before Columbus. The event is dated to 1446.

Is St Clair the same family as Sinclair?

Yes. St Clair is a historical spelling variant of the Sinclair 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 Sinclair surname found today?

Scotland is the primary historical home of the Sinclair 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 Sinclair family cover?

The Clan Rising page for the Sinclair 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 Sinclair family today?

The seat for the head of the Sinclair 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.