Dùn Barra
The ancient earls of Dunbar — one of the most powerful Scottish families before the Bruce
| Clan name | Clan Dunbar |
| Gaelic name | Dùn Barra |
| Name meaning | From the place name Dunbar — from the Gaelic Dùn Barra, the fort on the headland (from dùn, fort, and barr, summit or headland) |
| Motto | In promptu (Ready for action) |
| Territory | East Lothian, Berwickshire; the Dunbar earls held vast territories in southeast Scotland |
| Origin | Dunbar, East Lothian |
Dunbar is one of the oldest and most historically significant places in Scotland — a rocky headland on the East Lothian coast where a fortress has stood since ancient times. The earls of Dunbar and March, who took their name from this place, were among the most powerful magnates in medieval Scotland, controlling the coastal route between England and Edinburgh and holding territories across southeastern Scotland that gave them immense strategic leverage.
The first Earl of Dunbar was Gospatric, a Northumbrian nobleman who fled to Scotland after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 and was given the earldom by Malcolm III. The family that descended from him ruled the earldom for nearly 350 years — through the Wars of Independence, through changing allegiances with England and Scotland, through the turbulent politics of a borderland that was perpetually contested.
The earldom fell to the crown in 1435 when the last earl was forfeited, ending three and a half centuries of Dunbar political power. The name survived in numerous branches across Scotland and in the diaspora.
Dunbar castle — on the headland of the town — was later the stronghold of Mary Queen of Scots, who sheltered there after the murder of Rizzio and, more dramatically, after the murder of Darnley. The castle's ruins still stand on the harbour of Dunbar town.
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Subscribe Free →Dunbar families spread throughout Scotland after the forfeiture of the earldom, establishing themselves in different regions without the concentrated territorial power of the original earls. Through emigration in the 18th and 19th centuries, the name spread to North America, Australia, and the broader British world.
The town of Dunbar itself gave its name to settlements across the English-speaking world — most notably in the United States, where Dunbar, Pennsylvania is one of several American Dunbars named by Scottish settlers.
National Records of Scotland. East Lothian Council Archives. The Dunbar family papers in the National Archives of Scotland. For the medieval period, the Calendars of Scottish Charters and the Regesta Regum Scottorum series. Burke's Peerage for more recent noble branches.