Ralston

There are two likely explanations of this name, both of which are derived from personal names relating to wolf-like qualities. The northern origin is probably a diminutive of ‘hroth’wolfr’, meaning ‘wolf of fame’. The southern derivation stems from the personal name Ralph, which is itself a diminutive of Randolph, from the old English ‘raedwlf’, or ‘cunning wolf’. Nicolas de Ralston witnessed a charter to the monks of Paisley in 1272. Hew de Ralston appears in the Ragman Roll of 1296, rendering homage to Edward I of England. Jacobus de Raulyston ‘dominus eusdern’ (of that Ilk) witnessed the election of an abbot of Paisley in 1346. John de Ralston, Bishop of Dunkeld, was appointed Lord High Treasurer of Scotland in 1449. He was ambassador to England in that year and again in 1452. John Ralston of that Ilk sat as arbiter in a dispute between Paisley Abbey and the burgh of Renfrew. Hew de Ralston of Ralston was killed at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547. The estate of Ralston passed in the early eighteenth century to the Earls of Dundonald. The Ralstons of Warwickhill were cadets of the Lairds of Ralston, and continued to flourish around Paisley.