Associated with both Fife and Orkney, the Balfour name is derived from lands of the same name in the parish of Markinch in Fife.
The earliest recorded use of the name appears to be in 1298 when a Sir Duncan de Balfure supported the cause of Sir William Wallace at the battle of Blackironside, a great victory for the Scots in which Balfure was killed.
The name would then spread across the country over the next 400 years and by the 17th century it was so ubiquitous that, according to antiquarian Sir Robert Sibbald, there was ‘a greater number of landholders in the country called Balfour than any other name.’
Perhaps the most famous person to hold the name would be James Balfour, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905, one of only 7 Scotsmen to hold the title.
