The Johnstone Clan has its roots in the Anglo-Scottish borders region, notably in Annandale in the county of Dumfriesshire.

In 1124, King David I of Scotland granted to the first Robert de Bruce, a Norman, the Lordship of Annandale and 200,000 acres. It was Bruce’s descendant, the eighth Robert de Bruce, who was destined to lead the Scots in their heroic fight for independence from England. The de Bruce family was to play a pivotal role in the identification and development of the Johnstones, the two families becoming close allies over the years. Five hundred years after the title of the Lordship of Annandale had been granted to the De Bruce family, King Charles II was to grant it to Lord James Johnstone, the Chief of the Johnstone Clan.

It was not customary before the Normans arrived in these islands in the 11th century for people to have surnames. A man was normally only known by his Christian name, e.g. John, David, etc. If we remember also that a man would be known by the name other people gave him (i.e. not one he had invented himself), it is easy to understand how the man’s son would be named by reference to his father, e.g. John’s son, David’s son, giving us the origin of the names Johnson and Davidson. (A good guide as to whether such patronymics were of Northern British or Southern British origin : if "son" is added to a Christian name, the resultant surname normally indicates a family of Northern British origin, while the addition of "s" alone to a Christian name gives a surname of Southern British origin. Respective examples are Johnson and Johns. Try to think of a few more examples yourself.)

The Highland families tended towards the Celtic practice of indicating this same relationship by adding "Mac" (son of) to the beginning of a Gaelic name. In the case of Iain (the Gaelic equivalent of "John"), the patronymic was MacIain. In the Scottish Lowlands, the first people to acquire surnames were the Norman nobles, who came from France with William the Conqueror, some of whom, though not all, were of Viking ancestry.

Let us reflect for a moment : in the case of our own Clan progenitor, the man named "John" was not originally called Johnstone, or anything like it, because he was simply John. Neither could his son, Gilbert, have been called Johnstone, or anything like it at his birth. He could only have been called John’s son, (i.e. Johnson) according to the established pattern. His father, John, had lands granted to him by the Bruce family. It was only then that those lands became known as "John’s tun" or "John's farm". ("Tun" in the Germanic languages means "farm" or "lands", and is related to the Celtic "dun" and Old Irish "dún".)  His son Gilbert took to using the surname Johnstun in the period from 1170 - 1194. Thus, he was the first member of the family to take the surname Johnstone derived from the lands granted to his father. It is as well, however, to remember that he must have been originally a Johnson..........

This reasoning seems to be supported by Fraser in The Annandale Family Book of Johnstones, where he states: "Either from the first Bruce of Annandale, who settled there in 1124 or his immediate successor, 'John', father of Sir Gilbert Johnstone, obtained the lands of Johnstone. They were situated in the heart of Bruce's great Lordship, and not far distant from his famous castle of Lochmaben. 'John' of the single name, either by inheritance or gift from Robert Bruce, received lands in Annandale and bestowed his own name on them, calling them 'Johnstun', now 'Johnstone', both estate and parish. His son Gilbert is called indifferently Gilbert, son of John, or Gilbert de Johnstune".

                                                                                       C.J.