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Ballantine (surname)

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Ballantine is a surname of Scottish Gaelic origin. It is first found in Lanarkshire, where the family had been settled since ancient times. The name has also been variously spelled Ballantyne, Bannatyne, Ballanden, and Ballentine.[citation needed]

Origin of the name[edit]

In his book The Clans, Septs, and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands (1908), Sir Thomas Innes of Learney states that the original family name was Bannatyne, and was a sept associated with both Clan Campbell and Clan Stuart of Bute. In the Fourth Edition (1952) of that book, the Bannatyne association with Clan Campbell is stated to have begun in 1538, formalised in a bond signed 10 May 1547, in which the Chief of the MacAmelynes (aka Bannatynes) and Sir John Stuart, ancestor of the Marquis of Bute, engaged to stand by and support each other against all persons except the King and the Earl of Argyll, the latter reservation made so that the Chief of the Bannatynes could fulfill the conditions of a bond of manrent give to the Early of Argyll, dated 14 April 1538.[citation needed]

The etymology, given in William Arthur's An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names with an Essay on their Derivation and Import (1857), derives the name from Bal, the name of a deity, and teine, meaning fire, and relating to a place where Belenus, or Bal, was worshipped by the Celts.[1]

Notable people[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Ballantyne FYI". Archived from the original on 23 October 2008. Retrieved 5 November 2008.