The registration county, for property, is, 'County of Moray', and the Lieutenancy area, for ceremonial purposes is 'Moray' or 'Morayshire'. The lieutenancy area contains a slightly smaller area than the historic county.
Before 1889 there were two large exclaves of Moray situated within Inverness-shire, and an exclave of Inverness-shire situated within Moray. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 transferred these exclaves to the counties which surrounded them. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 established a uniform system of county councils in Scotland and realigned the boundaries of many of Scotland's counties. Subsequently, Moray County Council was created in 1890. Moray County Council was originally based in the current Elgin Sheriff Court building and moved to "County Buildings" just to the west of the courthouse after the Second World War.[6] Historically, 'Murrayshire' and 'Morrowshire' have been alternate spellings. [7][8][9][10]
Granted in 1927 by the Lord Lyon, Moray's coat-of-arms was: Quarterly: 1st and 4th Azure, three mullets argent; 2nd and 3rd Argent, three cushions gules within a tressure flory-counter-flory of the last. The motto was SUB SPE, Latin for "In Hope", a pun on the River Spey, which flows through the county. The coat of arms, described by Thomas Innes of Learney, a future Lord Lyon, in the Elgin Courant of 6 May 1927 as "the most beautiful county arms in Scotland", represented the clan Murray and Randolph, Earl of Moray, the two main landowners.[11]
Morayshire (Elginshire) & Nairnshire Civil Parish map. c.1861Moravia in Blaeu's 1654 Atlas of ScotlandMap of medieval Moray from A History of Moray and NairnbyCharles Rampini, Edinburgh, 1897
Civil parishes are still used for some statistical purposes, and separate census figures are published for them. As their areas have been largely unchanged since the 19th century this allows for comparison of population figures over an extended period of time.[12] From 1845 to 1930, parishes formed part of the local government system of Scotland, having parochial boards from 1845 to 1894.
In 1861 there were 15 civil parishes entirely in Moray:[13]
^"Morayshire County". Scotland's Places. Historic Environment Scotland, the National Records of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
^"1.3 History of Counties". Scottish Counties and Parishes: their history and boundaries on maps. National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
Lachlan Shaw and James Frederick Skinner Gordon (1882) The History of the Province of Moray: Comprising the Counties of Elgin and Nairn, the Greater Part of the County of Inverness and a Portion of the County of Banff, Published by Hamilton, Adams & co.,