The Clan Home/Hume is said to be descendents of the Saxon Princes of Northumberland through Cospatrick, Earl of Dunbar. At the Battle of Homildon in 1402, Sir Alexander Home of Dunglass was captured then killed in another battle in 1424. His three sons are where the principal branches of the family began.

His eldest grandson was created a Lord of Parliment and took the title "Lord Home" in 1473. His son, the second Lord Home, became joint administrator of the Lothians and Berwickshire during the minority of James IV, and Great Chamberlain of Scotland in 1488. He and his followers were part of the army levied by James IV for his invasion of England in 1513.

After the invasion, Home was appointed one of the counsellors to the Queen Regent. The regency was transferred to the Duke of Albany and, as a result, the Homes suffered. Lord Home was arrested for treason for conspiring with the English, and he and his brother were executed in 1516. The title and estates were given to another brother, George Home who died in 1547.

Alexander, the 6th Lord Home, was a favourite of King James I of England and VI of Scotland, and was created 1st Earl of Home and Dunglass in 1605. Because of a marriage to the heiress of the Douglas fortunes, the family acquired the lands of Douglas, Bothwell and others in Angus; however, the chief of Home could not also be the chief of the Douglases. Therefore, in 1875 the 11th Earl was created Baron Douglas.

Today, the Clan Leader of all Homes and Humes is David Douglas-Home, the 15 Earl of Home, who became Earl when his father, the late Prime Minister of Great Britain and Knight of The Thistle, died on Oct 9, 1995.