Heraldry & Dress
The crest, the motto,
the cloth
What an Ogilvy wears, and what it actually means. A short guide to the badge, the blazon, the tartans and the names that gather under them.
The clansman’s crest badge
The Badge
A lady, a portcullis,
and one word.
The crest of the Chief of Clan Ogilvy is a demi-lady holding a portcullis — a woman shown from the waist up, grasping the iron gate of a castle. It is an unusual charge, and a pointed one: the portcullis is the thing that holds when everything else has failed.
Around it runs a strap and buckle bearing the motto A FIN — Old French for to the end.
That strap matters. In Scottish heraldry a crest belongs to one person: the chief. A clansman does not bear the chief’s crest on its own — he wears it within a strap and buckle, the visible sign that he wears it as a member of the chief’s following, not as his own arms. It is a small piece of courtesy that has survived five centuries, and it is why every clan badge you have ever seen is drawn inside a belt.
The Blazon
Argent, a lion passant guardant gules
The arms of Ogilvy of Airlie: on a silver field, a red lion walking, its face turned to the viewer, wearing an imperial crown of gold.
- ArmsArgent, a lion passant guardant gules, crowned with an imperial crown Or
- CrestA demi-lady holding a portcullis, proper
- MottoA Fin — to the end
- Plant badgeWhitethorn (hawthorn)
- Pipe tuneThe Bonnie House o’ Airlie
- ChiefThe Earl of Airlie, Chief of the Name and Arms of Ogilvy
- Chiefly seatCortachy Castle, Angus
Arms are granted to individuals, not to families. The blazon above belongs to the Chief; bearing arms in Scotland is regulated by the Court of the Lord Lyon, and members of the clan wear the crest badge rather than the arms themselves.
The Cloth
Ogilvy setts
Two principal setts are worn by the name — the bright Ogilvie of Airlie, and a darker hunting sett for the hill.
The swatches above are woven in the browser as a visual impression of the setts, not as a weaving specification. Before commissioning a kilt or a length of cloth, take the authoritative threadcount from the Scottish Register of Tartans or from a recognised mill, and speak to the clan society — several Ogilvy variants (ancient, modern, weathered and dress) are in circulation, and they are not interchangeable.
Septs & Spellings
Names that gather under the badge
A sept is a family historically associated with a clan — by kinship, by dependence, by land, or simply by long habit. If your name is on this list, you are welcome under the Ogilvy badge.
- Ogilvy
- Ogilvie
- Ogilby
- Ogilbe
- Ogilvey
- Ogleby
- Airlie
- Gilchrist
- MacGilchrist
- Milne
- Milln
- Mille
- Richardson
- Storie
- Storrie
- Story
- Findlater
- Seafield
- Inverquharity
- Deskford
Sept lists are traditional rather than legal, and they differ between authorities — some names appear on several clans’ lists at once, for perfectly good historical reasons. If your family name is not here but your line runs back to Angus or to an Ogilvy household, write to us: descent matters more than the list does.
How to Wear It
A short note on doing it properly
-
One
The badge goes in a strap and buckle
Worn on the bonnet, or as a plaid brooch. The strap signals that you wear the chief’s crest as a member of his clan. A crest shown without the strap is a claim to be the chief.
-
Two
One feather, or none
Eagle feathers in the bonnet are a mark of rank in Scotland: three for a chief, two for a chieftain, one for an armiger. If you are none of those, wear the badge alone — it is the correct and the more dignified choice.
-
Three
The tartan is an invitation, not a passport
There is no law against anyone wearing Ogilvy tartan, and no one will stop you. But wearing it because it belongs to your line is a different thing from wearing it because it looks well — and that difference is roughly what this society exists to keep alive.