Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, Maltalent; Anglo Norman French, mautalent; Latin malum talentum), or it may be a locational reference to Mautalant, a place in Pontorson, France. The Brittany connection is less likely than that with Les Moitiers d'Allonne, near Carteret in the Cotentin. Mautalents continue to live in and near Les Moitiers d'Allonne, and the early mediaeval charters link the Maltalents of England and Scotland with the Morville family – originating from Morville, nr. Valonges, nearby, and Roger de Mowbray, whose family came from Aubigny, also nearby. The name gradually mutated to Mautalent and then Maitland, with the latter spelling appearing around 1250 and becoming settled in the late 14th century.
Map of Maitland NSW 2320, Australia
The earliest public record of the surname in Britain, after the Battle Abbey roll of 1066, dates to 1138 in Northumberland when Robert Maltalent witnessed a charter of Roger de Mowbray in Yorkshire.
The Clan Maitland is a lowland Scottish clan, the chief of which holds the title Earl of Lauderdale. The Earl's coat of arms features a lion rampant with all its joints cut off, forming a pun on the old version of the name (Mautalent sounding like the word 'mutilate').
People with this surname include:
Adam Maitland (1885–1949) (UK politician)
Charles Maitland, 3rd Earl of Lauderdale (c. 1620–1691), Scottish judge
Clover Maitland (b. 1972), Australian women's field hockey player
Edward Maitland (1824–1897), English humanitarian writer
Edward Maitland (aviator) (1880–1921), British military aviator
Emma Maitland (1844–1923), British suffragist
Frank Maitland (1909–2001), British Communist propagandist
Frederic William Maitland (1850–1906), English jurist and historian
Frederick Lewis Maitland (Royal Navy captain) (1730–1786), captain in the Royal Navy
Frederick Lewis Maitland (Royal Navy rear-admiral) (1777–1839), son of the above, Rear admiral in the Royal Navy
Frederick Maitland (1763–1848), English General, Napoleonic era
Henry Maitland Wilson (1881–1964), British Army general
James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale (1759–1839), representative peer for Scotland in the House of Lords
James Maitland Stewart (1908–1997), American actor, widely known as James Stewart or Jimmy Stewart.
John Maitland, 1st Lord Maitland of Thirlestane (1537–1595), Lord Chancellor of Scotland
John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale (1616–1682), Scottish politician, and leader within the Cabal Ministry
John Maitland (colonel) (1732–1779), British military officer
John Maitland (Royal Navy officer) (1771–1836), Royal Navy admiral
John Maitland (Conservative politician) (1903–1977), British politician in the Conservative party (Tory)
John Alexander Fuller Maitland (1856–1936), British music critic and scholar
Kier Maitland (born 1988), Canadian freestyle swimmer
Lady Olga Maitland (born 1944), British politician
Peregrine Maitland (1777–1854), British soldier and colonial administrator
Richard Maitland (1496–1586), Scottish poet, Senator of the College of Justice, Ordinary Lord of Session
Royal Maitland (1898–1946), Canadian politician in British Columbia
Sara Maitland (born 1950), British writer
Sean Maitland (born 1988), New Zealand born Scottish rugby union player
Thomas Maitland (British Army officer) (1759–1824), British colonial governor and general
Thomas Maitland, Lord Dundrennan (1792–1851), Scottish judge
Thomas Maitland, 11th Earl of Lauderdale (1803–1878), British naval officer
William Maitland of Lethington (1525–1573), 'Secretary Lethington' to Mary, Queen of Scots
William Maitland (c.1693–1757), historian and topographer, History of London from Its Foundation to the Present Time
In popular culture:
Barbara and Adam Maitland, of the 1988 film Beetlejuice
