What is "rankilor"

Rankilor is the family name of a Scottish family whose origins were Scottish. It is thought that they are a family in the Clan Bruce, and are descendants of the one-time King of Scotland, Robert the Bruce. Variant spellings include Rankeillour, Rankeillor and Rankeilour.

There are farms in Fife, Scotland, called Rankeilour Mains and Over Rankeilour, and there is a Rankeillor Street in Edinburgh. There is also a character called Rankeillor in Robert Louis Stevenson's book Kidnapped.

One part of the family settled in the Birmingham area, and one member was the founding Secretary of the National Union of Teachers. Another part of the family settled in Guernsey in the 19th century, where in addition to school teaching, they owned the Rankilor Shipyard in Saint Sampson, making boats and schooners.

Ancestral records have been traced back to 1550; older records were destroyed in a fire. The family split into three main groups; one remained in Scotland, one moved to the York area and one moved to Guernsey.