Cunningham
Modern Dress Crest
Gaelic Name: MacCuinneagain
Motto: Over Fork Over
Origin of Name: Placename, Ayrshire
Historic Seat: Finlaystone House, Renfrewshire
The first Cunningham is believed to have been a Flemish man named Wernibald, who took on the placename as his own when he received a grant of Kilmaurs in Cunningham, Ayrshire from Hugo de Morville, the Constable of Scotland, in 1140. Haakon IV, King of Norway, arrived off the coast of this area to reassert his rule over Scotland’s Isles in 1263. This led to the sea battle of Largs from which Haakon would never return home. For his part in the battle, Harvey Cunningham of Kilmaurs had his family’s property expanded by Alexander II.