Cleland
A Scottish surname originally tied to the lands of Cleland in Lanarkshire.
The #8,040 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 75,011 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Cleland is a locational surname from Cleland, an old place-name in Lanarkshire, Scotland. The name was used to identify people who came from, or held lands in, that place. Older writers sometimes treated it as meaning simply “of Cleland,” rather than deriving it from a personal nickname or occupation.
History
Historical sources place the family “of that Ilk” in Lanarkshire by the time of Alexander III, showing that the surname was established in Scotland by the medieval period. It later spread beyond Scotland through ordinary migration, and it appears in English and Irish records as well. Some 19th-century surname writers noted its Scottish local character, though a few also observed its English-looking form.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A few older surname books mention both Cleland and Clelland, showing how spelling could shift before modern standardization.
From the historical record
“CLEGHORN. A place in co. Lanark. CLELAND. The family were " of that Ilk," in CO. Lanark, temp. Alexander III. CLI 62 CLO”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom