It is said that a family of Smiths have been settled in the parish of Stathblane at Craigend for well over 400 years. Initially they were just tenants, but later became lairds of the land. Apparently, when surnames came into use, the family took theirs from their occupation: as smiths and armourers of the Barony of Mugdock.
In Latin documents the surname is written as Faber and Ferro. In the records is an Adam Faber, and he held a croft, sometime between 1221 and 1234, on the lands of Swaynystoun, and in, or around, 1250, William faber de Karel was a witness.
A charter by John, the bishop of Dunkeld, was witnessed by Robert the smith (ferro) around 1199.
In 1274, an inquest made at Traquair saw William the Smith as a juror, and in 1398, Alan Smyth was a ‘Gustatores Ceruisie’ in Aberdeen, and a Patrick Smyth of Scotland, was to be held in custody, in 1401, in the Tower of London. There was a John Smyth recorded as being a tenant of the ‘Fabrile [Smithy] de Inveryalder’ in 1539, and in 1621, Elizabeth Smythe and Margaret Smythe of Greinholme were recorded as being heir portioners of Alexander Smythe.
At Columbia University in New York City, a Professor Alexander Smith, born in Edinburgh, 1865, was head of the Chemistry department.
Other recorded versions of this surname include Smeayth, Smyith, Smyithe, and Smytht.