Laird

["Spirit One Email" <laurel@spiritone.com>]

Cousins,
    Maybe I should think about this longer before I show my ignorance, but
if I am wondering perhaps others are also.
The word "Laird" confuses me.
It seems to be a clan name ....but then
sometimes it is a title..There was a Mistress Pauline Hunter of Hunterston,
Chief of Clan Hunter, 30th Laird of Hunterston at the Pleasanton Games.
    I assume that there is no title comparable to Earl for a woman so she is
called a "Mistress"?
My two dictionaries say this is a Scottish noun for the owner of a landed
estate.  a variant of Lord.

But in the recent messages about the Sinclair-Lairds it becomes a family
name?  I see no clan named Laird.

Who can explain this?
Laurel