alan's mother was the sister and heir of william de morville, lord of lauderdale and cunningham, constable of scotland. alan's father was the eldest son of uhtred, lord of galloway, son of fergus, lord of galloway. the familial origins of fergus are unknown, and he first appears on record in 1136. the mother of at least two of his children, uhtred and affraic, was an unknown daughter of henry i, king of england. it was probably not long after fergus' emergence into recorded history that he gave away affraic in marriage to amlaíb mac gofraid, king of the isles. one after-effect of these early twelfth-century marital alliances was that alan—fergus' great-grandson—was a blood relative of the early thirteenth-century kings of england and the kings of the isles—men who proved to be important players throughout alan's career.