The Bairds are an ancient Scottish line, prominent at different times in centres as far apart as Aberdeenshire Lanarkshire and Peeblesshire. They are first noted historically in the 12th century, when the name was spelt Bard or Barde, one of the first recorded members of the family being one Henry de Barde, who in 1178 witnessed a charter of lands in Stirling assigned to the Bishop hop of Glasgow by William the Lion.

In the reign of Alexander III, Richard Baird received the lands of Meikle and Little Kyp in Lanarkshire, and also on record is a charter by Robert the Bruce to Robert Baird for the Barony of Cambusnethan. It was from the Cambusnethan branch that one of the members of the family moved north at the invitation of the Earl of Huntly and was given certain lands in Aberdeenshire. This was about 1430, and from then onwards the family became numerous and spread throughout the counties of Banff and Aberdeen.

The most notable of the Bairds in the north-east were the Bairds of Auchmedden, in the parish of Aberdour, who retained the lands of Auchmedden for upwards of three centuries, from about 1430 until about 1750, when the estate was forfeited because of the involvement of William Baird, Laird of Auchmedden of the time, on the Jacobite side in the Rising of 1745. William Baird had to go into hiding after Culloden, and his death ended one of the oldest of Scottish family lines.

A lesser known, branch of the Baird family are the Bairds of Posso, between five and six miles south-west of Peebles. They are of ancient lineage, the first on record being Thomas de Bard, who was sheriff of Peebles in 1296 and whose name, with those of other Bairds, appears on the Ragman Roll of that date, when the Scottish nobles had to swear fealty to Edward of England. Sir Gilbert Baird of Posso fell at Flodden in 1513, and in the absence of male descendants, the representation of the family passed through a grand-daughter to the Naesmiths, through whom the line of the Bairds of Posso is now traced.