The name Scrymgeour is probably derived from skrymsher which is Old English for a swordsman. The Scrymgeour family was well established in Fife long before their connection with Dundee. The clan chiefs were later created constables, Earls of Dundee, and hereditary royal standard bearers.

Iain Moncreiffe stated that the Scrymgeours were probably descended from the MacDuff Earls of Fife. The Scrymgeours may have claimed their office as standard bearers from their early Celtic origins, as it was customary for Celtic armies to be accompanied by sacred holy relics that were borne by a hereditary keeper. It is therefore possible that the Scrymgeours carried a relic such as a staff of St. Columba which was later replaced by a heraldic banner.

During the Wars of Scottish Independence the Scrymgeours were confirmed as banner bearers by William Wallace and Parliament on 29 March 1298. Scrymgeour was named as Alexander, son of Colyn, son of Cairn and he was the first person to declare for Robert the Bruce. Scrymgeour obtained a charter from Bruce confirming the rights that had previously been granted to him by Wallace. This is the only surviving contemporary document where Bruce and Wallace are named together. However Sir Alexander Scrymgeour was later captured by the English and hanged at Newcastle upon the direct orders of Edward I of England in 1306. He was succeeded by another Alexander Scrymgeour who in 1314 rode as the royal banner bearer at the Battle of Bannockburn.

In 1370 large amounts of land in Argyll came to the Scrymgeour family when Alexander Scrymgeour married Agnes, heiress to Gilbert Glassary of that Ilk.

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