King James III created the title in 1488 by royal charter for Alexander Cunningham, 1st Lord Kilmaurs.

He held the earldom just two weeks before he and the king were killed at the Battle of Sauchieburn.

Shortly after, the earldom was unsuccessfully claimed by Sir Adam Fergusson of Kilkerran, Bt., as heir of line of Alexander, 10th Earl of Glencairn, great-great-grandson of the 10th Earl's daughter Lady Margaret Cunningham (c.1662–1742) with her husband John Maitland, 5th Earl of Lauderdale.

The House of Lords Committee of Privileges on 14 July 1797, chaired by the Lord Chancellor (Lord Rosslyn), in deciding the claim of the first-named, took a view unfavourable to all the claimants, and adjudged, that while Sir Adam Fergusson had shown himself to be the heir-general of Alexander, 10th Earl of Glencairn who died in 1670, he had not made out his right to the title.

[1] However, the decision was severely criticised by the jurist John Riddell in the 19th century and by Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk, Officer of Arms, in the 20th.