Which Clan?

[Rós Ó hAllmhuráin]

I belong to the House of Gordon New Zealand, not only because my mother's father was a Crombie (his people came from Auchterderran in Fife) but also because she is the President/ Commissioner for the House of Gordon New Zealand. Through her I also can claim ties with the Hays and Morrisons.

Thought my surname is an Irish one, Ó hAllmhuráin, both my father and I are also members of Clan Donald New Zealand through my fathers mother who was a Wilkie (she was born in the UK). I also have a Feileadh mhor in the County Clare Tartan.

My wife has a Welsh surname but can claim ties with Clan keith through her mother being a Dixon as well as having Harvey ties. The also supposedly are decended from one of the Dukes of Argyll.

In fact there wouldn't be to many kiwis with out a splash of Scots blood in them, we even had or still have more pipebands per head of population than Scotland... not bad for a country with only 4 million people and bigger than the UK land mase wise!

[WVHighlander]

Ah...New Zealand. I've yet to be there but I here it is almost heaven on earth with its mountains, climate etc.

[Rós Ó hAllmhuráin]

Ah...New Zealand. I've yet to be there but I here it is almost heaven on earth with its mountains, climate etc.

yep, it's a nasty wet spring day 1:25pm 13/10/2011 here in NZ.. tis slightly warm but.

[ohiopiper]

My decision was easy. I have no scottish ancestry at all but my wife is a MacKay. Needing a kilt for piping gigs (although I wear it more often now due to comfort), I went with MacKay since it is the only clan I have any affiliation with at all and that tenuous at best. I'm not involved in the clan society, just wear the tartan.

[Donnachaidh Drumair]

As I have MANY Scottish Clans on both sides, and do not have a Scottish surname, I went with my father's side and with his mother's great-grandfather, Edward Duncan, and as Duncan is highly contested as a clan, I go with either Duncan or Robertson, (which some people say is the same thing) depending on who I'm talking to.

I read through most of the thread, which has been dormant a couple months, so I hope it's okay to revive it briefly, but I most related to marvelredneck's comment from page one.

Since I have a Saxon surname and at the very least six readily available Scottish names combined on both sides without going back very far, I went with my paternal grandmother's maiden name for a couple reasons:

1) It's the closest.
2) The Reid tartan is both dubious and god-awful ugly.
3) I quite frankly just fell in love with the Robertson tartan.

But I'm also aware that the surname Reed can be Irish and English. We have records of a marriage to a groom with a good Scottish name in Ulster. It's scant evidence, so I'm not gonna look too hard to disprove it. I can rule out the Irish, though.

In any case, I wouldn't bore anyone with any of this if they simply asked what tartan I was wearing. The minor uncertainty bugs me a little in the back of my mind, but I like the tartan I like and have gotten into the clan's history. And as others have said, I don't take it all too seriously. I'm more proud of being part Scottish/Celtic than being part of any clan.

[bdkilted]

Slackerdrummer;
I see the first name in your list is Austin. The Keith's would welcome you, and you are welcome to wear the Keith/Austin tartan. You can join our society, or just our forum here on xmark.
BD

[AFS1970]

Well now, going back to the beginning of this thread and the idea that one does not argue with one's mother, much of what information I have came from her. One of my father's brothers did a family genealogy, and I am trying to get a copy to confirm what I grew up hearing.

My last name, while present in Scotland and the name of a clan, I have always been told was Irish. Although my oldest brother wears that clan tartan.

I was told that the closest relative in my father's line was from another clan. So when I (the youngest of 3 but first to own a kilt) bought mine, I only had modern and ancient to choose from. I chose ancient because I liked it better.

The 2nd of us to buy a kilt was my middle brother, whom I lost suddenly a few months ago. He chose to buy one to match mine. Sadly that kilt is now lost to the winds, never to be found again.

My oldest Brother who was the last to buy a kilt, even though he knew the two of us wore one tartan, chose to buy the one from our surname. He also had a unit tartan he could have worn, but as far as I know never did.

As for clan affiliation, many years ago I met two older ladies from the clan association who's tartan I wear. the association was based down south and had only a small chapter in a neighboring state to me. Not really conducive to joining. A few years ago I started looking to find them again and could not find any record of the association still existing. I had thought they had died out. As far as I can tell the clan itself has no Chief in Scotland and may have possibly died out as a clan.

While looking around another Scottish site, I found a link to a clan society of that name, based I think in the Midwest. I have looked at their application and they need the name of the relative which brings me back to finding a copy of that genealogy that my uncle put together.

Now I did just buy a 2nd kilt, in the XMTS tartan, due to the recent availability of some yardage. I did this also because my clan one has seen better days and needs a rest. However I am beginning to think of a tartan like this as similar to a unit or association tartan. I have thought of getting another in the American Bicentennial tartan, but that will require a custom weave. Due to that, I would likely get a nicer kilt if I was going to spend the money. However having been born and bread in the USA, that is undeniably my tartan.