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A surname derived from the district of that name, in the
south—east of Inverness-shire, anciently belonging to the
powerful family of the Cumyns. In 1230, Walter Cumyn, earl
of Menteith in right of his wife, the second son of William
Cumyn, earl of Buchan, acquired the lordship of Badenoch, by
a grant of Alexander the Second. (Chalmers’ Caledonia,
vol. ii. p. 563.) In 1291, John Cumyn, lord of Badenoch,
acknowledged Edward the First as superior of Scotland. His
son John, called the Red Cumyn, was the personage who was
slain at Dumfries, by Robert the Bruce, 10th February 1306.
On the forfeiture of the Cumyns, Bruce annexed the lordship
of Badenoch to the earldom of Murray, and the clan Chattan,
whose original possessions were in Lochaber, appear about
this period to have settled in Badenoch. (Gregory’s
Highlands, p. 77.) Robert the Second granted Badenoch to
his son Alexander, earl of Buchan, commonly called, from his
ferocity, "the Wolf of Badenoch." (See BUCHAN, earls of.) In
1452 the crown bestowed Badenoch on the earl of Huntly, who,
at the head of the clan Chattan, maintained a fierce warfare
with the western clans, and his neighbours of Lochaber. (See
HUNTLY, earl of.) As early as 1440 we find one Patrick
Badenoch serving the office of baillie of Aberdeen.
(Extracts from ABERDEEN Burgh Records, pp. 6, 8,
&c.) The name is not uncommon in the north of Scotland.
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