The surname Torrans is recorded in several forms as shown below, this is an early medieval Scottish surname. It is locational originating from either of the two places in Scotland called Torrance, one near East Kilbride in Lanarkshire, and the other north of Glasgow under the Campsie Fells. The place names are derived from the Gaelic word 'torran', meaning a hillock or mound, with the later addition of the English plural 's'. Locational surnames, such as this, were usually acquired by a local landowner, or by the lord of the manor, and especially by those former inhabitants of a place who had moved to another area, usually in search of work, and were best identified by the name of their birthplace. In the modern idiom the surname can be found recorded as Torrance, Torrans, Torrence, and Torrens. In 1882-4, Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland described Torrance in Lanarkshire like this: Torrance, an ancient parish of W Lanarkshire, annexed to East Kilbride in 1589. Torrance House, near the left bank of the Rotten Calder, 2 miles SE of East Kilbride village, in its oldest part dates from the 14th century, but has been added to at different times. Its owner, Rt. Edward Stuart Harington-Stuart, Esq. (b. 1834; suc. 1879), holds 2274 acres in the shire, valued at £2681 per annum. The Tor, ¼ mile to the W, is an artificial mound, 160 yards round the base, and 20 of ascent-Ord. Sur., sh. 23, 1865.