A sept is a family name that can be related to a clan or larger family for various reasons. Usually this came about either through marriage or by a small family seeking protection from a larger and more powerful neighbour. Nowadays, this relationship is most often seen in the clan tartan that individual families are entitled to wear.

Over time, many septs have become clans in their own right and, in the political turmoil that Scotland has seen over the centuries, many others came to be related to more than one clan.

Even if your name is not shown on the map, it is highly probable that it is related to one of the clans shown on it. If you find this clan, you will be able to see the area of Scotland from which your ancestors came.

There are 48 noted Septs within the Clan Farquharson including:
Farquhar; Finlay; Finlayson; MacCartney; MacKerracher; MacKinley and Paterson.

Scottish Clans, as we know them today, were beginning to be formalised at the time of Robert the Bruce in the early 14th century. Since his time, the number of clans has multiplied dramatically and nearly all these later clans started out as Septs.