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The Name and Family of SINCLAIR

Orthography of the Sinclair Family Name
by Leonard Allison Morrison

The authoritative manner of writing or spelling the name is Saint Clair, or its contraction St. Clair. The name of the earliest known immigrant to America of the family was spelled Sinclare, the second Sinkler, the third Sinklaire. The name of the New Hampshire family was called and spelled Sinkler, and so was a Virginia family which appeared nearly a century after. At the present time the Sinkler form of writing it has almost entirely disappeared, although it does still prevail among representatives of one branch of the family in Virginia.

Within half a century many of the descendants of the first Sinklers, living in various portions of the country have changed their name to St. Clair or Sinclair and in some instances have written it Sinclear and Sincleare. At the present time these various forms are generally understood to be the same patronymic, and the manner of writing and pronouncing it have become largely a matter of individual taste. Indeed, in public documents, the same individual's name frequently appears in each form. In the Directory of London, England, both names are inserted under the heading "Sinclair, St. Clair."

Saint Clare, Saint Clair, or its contraction St. Clair, was the original orthography as it came from the martyr Saint Clare, the hermit on the shore of the Epte. He was the first St. Clair. In Scotland both surnames appear today, still in the course of centuries. In Caithness, where the family has long been a princely, powerful, prolific, and numerous one, the name is almost universally written and pronounced Sinclair.

While both forms of this surname are now considered as correct, as each is sanctioned by use and the custom of centuries, while each appears in Scotland and England, and in offshoots of the same family in Ireland, and other countries in Europe, in Africa, Australia, the United States, and Canada, still the argument is in favor of St. Clair as the earlier, the original derivation, and the correct orthography of the name.

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The Sinclair family originated with Count Robert de Santo Claro or Saint Clair, a Norman who came into England 1066 with William the Conqueror,
married Eleanor de Dreux,
(granddaughter of Sire de Coucy who married Margaret, daughter of Richard duke of Normandy);
their son Sir William de Sancto Claro, one of the many Anglo-Norman barons, settled in Scotland in the reign of David I who gave him 129 the grant of the Barony of Roslin;
son Sir William received grant of Mid Lothian, Scotland 1180;
son Sir William guardian of the Prince received confirmation of the Barony of Roslin from King Alexander of Scotland (1249-85):
his son Sir Henry de Sancto Claro of Roslin, supporter of King Robert the Bruce (1306-29) and first of the Scottish barons to sign the celebrated letter of the Pope asserting the independence of Scotland;
his son Sir William Saint Clair in allusion to his fair deportment "the seemly Saint Clair of Kirkcaldy," had hereditary office of Grand-masters of masonry in Scotland conferred on him by King James II (1437-60), fell with "Good Sir James Douglas" defending Bruce's heart in Spain as he was an adventurous knight with Douglas to the Holy Land of whom Scott in "Lay of the Last Minstrel" said "And each St. Clair was buried there, with candle, with book, and with knell," m. (1) Lady Margaret daughter of fourth Earl of Douglas the Duke of Touraine, m. (2) Marjory dau. of Alexander Southerland;
his son William the Waster m. Isabel ----;
his son Henry made Lord Sinclare establish the right to the Lordship 1488 and had a brother David and sister Margaret;
his descendants retained peerage until 1677.

In Wester Scotland their clan was known as na ceairde, in northern Scotland as Singleir. Their motto was "Commit thy work to God."

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Last updated March 2000 by Web Genealogist Chris Stefanovich.