Christie is a
sept of
Clan Farquharson, a
Highland
Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...
Scottish clan
A Scottish clan (from Scottish Gaelic , literally 'children', more broadly 'kindred') is a kinship group among the Scottish people. Clans give a sense of shared heritage and descent to members, and in modern times have an official structure r ...
of
Invercauld,
Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland.
It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...
.
History
Origins of the Clan
Christie is a shortened form of Christian and possibly also of Christopher, which is established in
Fife
Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...
and
Stirlingshire According to Scots Kith and Kin, Clan Christie was in the area of
Fife
Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...
in the 15th century. Said to be a sept of the Clan Farquharson. Another tradition is that the name was given to descendants of Christianus, a younger son of Alwyn II, one of the first
Earls of Lennox. Anderson describes four coats of arms belonging to four different Christie families in Fife, Mid-Lothian, Aberdeen, and Galloway. Rogers
[Genealogical Memoirs of the Scottish House of Christie, Royal Historical Society, London, UK 1878] states that the name may have come from the Danish word "cruset" which means "cup"; and there was a family of Christie on the Isle of Man, who claimed descent from the Danes.
Anderson reports that the last recognized head of the Clan Christie was Sir Archibald Christie who was deputy-governor of Stirling Castle, and who died in 1847.
The Christy family first appears in the records of
Edinburghshire where they were recorded as an ancient Edinburghshire family before the year 1100. The most ancient Christy family
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
was recorded between the 12th and 15th centuries. The notable Christy family is shown in the ancient manuscripts and cartularies as tracing their ancestry to
Pict
PICT is a graphics file format introduced on the original Apple Macintosh computer as its standard metafile format. It allows the interchange of graphics (both bitmapped and vector), and some limited text support, between Mac applications, an ...
ish origin.
Clan Septs
Christy, Chrystie, Chrysty, MacChristie, McChristie, MacChristy, McChristy, Christe, Christi, Cristi, MacChrystyn, McChrystyn, Christian, and many more.
Clan Profile
*Crest: An oak stump sprouting new growth proper.
*Motto: Sic Viresco ("Thus I flourish")
References
{{reflist
Christie