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Clan Little (Tartans, Crest) and The Story Behind

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Little

Clan Crest: A demi lion Sable powdered with saltires Argent, armed Gules, in dexter paw a cutlass Proper and in sinister a saltire Argent

Clan Motto: Concedo Nulli (No surrender, no retreat, yield no ground)

Origin of Name: Descriptive

Clan Badge: Heather

Lands: Borders

Clan Chief: None, armigerous clan

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Little Clan History

In public records, the surname is spelled Litle, Littell, Litill, Littill, Lytil, Lytle, and Lyttille. Little is thought to be a descriptive surname meaning "small." Parvus appears in Latin documents, and Petit appears in French.

Hugo Parvus was clericus regis for King William the Lion during his reign, and he was possibly the same Hugo Parvus who was burgess of Dundee around 1202. An R. Parvus was a chaplain who witnessed a charter in favor of the Hospital of Soltre between 1214 and 1240.

A Martin Litill who witnessed a charter by William, dominus vallis de Ledell in 1351 for the lands of Abirdowyr in Fife is thought to be the same Martin Lytill who owned the lands of Cardyvn in 1358. Duncan Petit served as chancellor of the church of Aberdeen in 1426, and Johannes Petit, also known as J. Litill, was vicar of Lestalrig in 1448.

The Littles owned land in Meikledale, Kirkton, and Sorbie. The family quickly made their presence felt in the area by becoming one of the notorious rinding clans, attacking and plundering places on both sides of the border. By the end of the 16th century, they had established a reputation as Europe's best light cavalry. Not long after assuming the English throne, James VI put an end to the border raids, which had been going on since the late 12th century. Many border clans, including the Littles, fled south into England or across the border into Ulster, giving rise to the Ulster-Scots.

The clan is currently an armed clan with no chief, and has not had one since the 17th century.

DNA testing has recently revealed ancestral relationships between people named Glendinning, Little, and Elliot. Scott of Satchells, a 17th-century historian, described a migration from Angus to the Borders of "twelve great families." The Elliots of Redheugh were the dominant family, and their Breton ancestry is now well documented. Historians have discovered that Anglo-Bretons, and thus Scots-Bretons, were notoriously slow to adopt surnames. In the Elliot family, the adopted surname "Elwald" was used interchangeably with the old Breton toponym-based surname, and was eventually dropped. This DNA evidence suggests that those families who did not settle on Redheugh lands adopted their own new surnames based on local toponymic or geographic features, much like the Flemish Douglas progenitor, who took his name from lands surrounding Douglas Water. The Glendinnings were named after their new home, while the Littles were named after the Liddel. Because of the close relationship between the Douglases, Elliots, Glendinnings, and Littles, these DNA results are especially significant. The progenitor of the Stewarts, Walter fitzAlan (of Dol, Brittany), was of Breton origin, but we can now identify more Scots of Breton origin, whose settlement in Scotland, like that of so many feudatories of Norman, Flemish, and Picard origin during the reign of William the Lion, has been described as a "tidal wave." William favored Flemings such as Freskin (Clan Murray) and his nephew Theobald, founder of the powerful Douglas family, as well as Beorwald, founder of Clan Innes. The majority of mercenaries or professional soldiers during this period were Flemish or Breton, who were given land instead of pay by a cash-strapped William I.

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Little Crest & Coats of Arms

Crest of the Little Clan

A demi lion Sable powdered with saltires Argent, armed Gules, holding a cutlass in dexter paw. A saltire Argent proper and sinister

Coats of Arms in Miniature:

A word about Coats of Arms:

A coat of arms is granted to an individual under Scottish heraldic law (with the exception of civic or corporate arms). A 'family coat of arms' does not exist. With the exceptions noted above, the arms depicted below are personal arms. Only the person who has been granted these weapons has the right to use them.