Clan Laing

From the word 'long' or 'tall'. In 1357 Thomas Laing engaged that Dumfries shall pay part of the ransom of king David II. Thomas Layng, who was a notary public in Edinburgh in 1461, is also recorded in 1467 as Thomas Laing (burgess and notary public).

In 1472 John Layng was rector of Newlands, treasurer to king James III, and bishop of Glasgow. The name is found in the Glasgow Protocol books in the 16th century.
In 1502 Archibald Layng was a priest and notary public in St.Andrews diocese, in 1623 John Laying was recorded in Tolhoip in Shetland, and in David Laing (1790-1878) was a distinguished antiquary.

In Kintyre Laing is sometimes used as a shortened version of Loynachan.
Cosmo Gordon Lang was the Archbishop of York (1908-1928) and the Archbishop of Canterbury (1928-1942). He was born in Fyvie, Aberdeenshire in 1864, the son of a Presbyterian minister. In 1926 Lang baptised Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen, officiated the coronation of George VI on the 12th of May 1937. The Archbishop was later made Baron Lang of Lambeth in 1942.
One of the most well known of the name is Sir John William Laing (1879 - 1978), founder of the construction company John Laing plc.