They claim descent from Maurice Fitzgerald, an Anglo-Norman who moved to Ireland with Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, known as "Strongbow."

[5] Gillean's great-grandson, Iain Dubh, or Black John, had two sons, Eachin Reaganach (Hector the Stern), and Lachainn Lubanach (Lachlan the Wily).

[5] Before 1538, Ewan, son of Iain Og, the fifth chief, lived on a cranog (artificial island) in Loch Sghubhain, north of Lochbuie.

[5] Historically Roman Catholic and proud to see a Scottish monarch on the throne, the Maclaines of Lochbuie, along with the MacLeans, fought on the side of the Royalists in the English Civil War against Oliver Cromwell and his Parliamentarians.

Murdoch Mor, the tenth chief, fought for James Graham, 1st Marquis of Montrose in 1645 and as a result his lands were forfeited and not restored until 1661.

[5] The twelfth chief, Hector, was the victor at the first battle of the Jacobite campaign of 1689 where he overcame five troops of horse sent by Hugh Mackay's army to intercept him.

[5] The Maclaines of Lochbuie and other clans were persuaded by Duncan Forbes, Lord Culloden not to rise with Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745.

[10] During the American Revolution, many Highland regiments were raised in Scotland, and rarely one of them was formed that did not consist of a MacLean or a Maclaine.

[11] The period of colonization before the Revolution saw many Maclaines and MacLeans settle in the sandhills of eastern North Carolina, and these settlers were almost all British sympathizers during the war.

[12] The 24th Chief Kenneth Douglas Lorne [MC; Croix de Guerre with Palm] Lost the Lochbuie estates in controversial lawsuit resulting in final foreclosure in March 1922.

[12] Since most Scottish emigrants could not read or write, carried thick highland "brogues," and had trouble being understood, names might have been changed or misspelled.

Listed below are surnames that are associated with Clan MacLean, but more specifically, the Maclaines of Lochbuie (note that there are over 200 alternate spellings for these names): McLean, Maclaine, McClain, McLain, MacLayne, MacLean, Lane, Laine, Lain, Layne, Lean, McFadyen, McFadzean, McFayden, MacFadden, MacFadyen, McPhadon, McFadzean, McPhadzean, Fadden, MacCormack, McCormick, Cormack, Cormick, MacGillivray, MacIlvora, MacBay, MacVay, MacAvoy, Avoy, MacEvoy, Evoy, MacFetridge, Patton, Patten, Paton, Peden, Douie, Huie, Beaton, Black, Clanachan, McSpadden[14] A branch of laurel and a branch of cypress in saltire, surmounted of a battleaxe in pale, all proper.