St Clair History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname St Clair is a topographic surname, which was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree. Habitation names form the other broad category of surnames that were derived from place-names. They were derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. Other local names are derived from the names of houses, manors, estates, regions, and entire counties. As a general rule, the greater the distance between an individual and their homeland, the larger the territory they were named after. For example, a person who only moved to another parish would be known by the name of their original village, while people who migrated to a different country were often known by the name of a region or country from which they came. The St Clair family lived at St. Clare in the arrondisement of Pont d’Eveque, Normandy before arriving in Scotland.

Early Origins of the St Clair family

The surname St Clair was first found in Suffolk, where they held a family seat from very early times and were granted lands by Duke William of Normandy, their liege Lord, for their distinguished assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D.

Early History of the St Clair family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our St Clair research. Another 123 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1086 and 1130 are included under the topic Early St Clair History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

St Clair Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: St. Clair, St. Clare, St. Clere, De Clare and others.

Early Notables of the St Clair family (pre 1700)

More information is included under the topic Early St Clair Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

St Clair Ranking

In the United States, the name St Clair is the 2,788^th most popular surname with an estimated 9,948 people with that name. [1]

 Migration of the St Clair family to Ireland

Some of the St Clair family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. More information about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

 St Clair migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were: 

St Clair Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

• Thomas St. Clair, who settled in Baltimore in 1783

St Clair Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

• David St. Clair, who settled in Philadelphia in 1855

St Clair Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

• Urnnie St. Clair, aged 35, who immigrated to America, in 1905
• Joseph N St. Clair, who settled in America, in 1907
• Ralph Griffith St. Clair, aged 49, who immigrated to the United States, in 1908
• Geo. W. St. Clair, aged 2, who settled in America, in 1908
• Richard St. Clair, aged 40, who landed in America from Glasgow, Scotland, in 1909