sloan is a sept of which clan?

[ctbuchanan]

To leapfrog the cynical point of view. Yes, I believe that the Galloway tartan would be a perfectly legitimate choice for you. You could even go with Ayrshire as your family name seems to be well concentrated there as well. As an American without a clear clan connection you are on the right track choosing a tartan that has some historical connection to your name and would have some personal meaning to you. The choice is yours, is a personal one, and if I were you I'd be proud wearing either.

[ctbuchanan]

Most of the tartan 'MacName' thing is all romanticised, 'make believe' anyway. On the positive side, it's sure made money for Scottish industry and commerce and I do like wearing the kilt!

That is certainly a pretty shallow view of things. And while we all agree that the tartan name connections were all contrived at one time, that was started over 200 years ago. I would think that the length and depth of the conversations contained within the Xmarks forum would demonstrate that the current view has evolved well beyond the 'make believe'. Many Clan Chiefs (a well established and legal entity) would take great exception to your contention that named tartans are irrelevant. And I know of many, many of my friends and acquaintances (and myself included) who take great pride in the tartans that they wear regardless of how it all got started.

[Theyoungkiltman]

i am sort of in the middle as far as that. i believe that you should wear a tartan that you have a hereditary or bestowed right to in most formal situations but in a casual or at-home situation i do not think it matters much.

[TheOfficialBren]

It could be like my surname, Colbert (say the "t"). Originally found in Galloway but also Ireland, England, and other parts of Scotland.

Truthfully, my friend, most Scots have always been outside the clan system even when it was a political entity.

[Nathan]

Most of the tartan 'MacName' thing is all romanticised, 'make believe' anyway. On the positive side, it's sure made money for Scottish industry and commerce and I do like wearing the kilt!

It's not quite that simple. Some of them were lifted from portraits of prominent figures within the clan, others were taken from artifacts etc... Certainly they wouldn't have been considered clan tartans at the time of the given portrait etc... and a lot were created by Wilson's or the Sobieski Stuarts but they have come to visually symbolize the ties that bind. Usually clan/family ties but also associations, districts, football team, religion etc...

As mentioned by ctbuchanan, the tradition is now over 200 years old and is real and established. As Father Bill is fond of saying, there's no need to wear another person's name tag.

I own four kilts all in MacDonald setts. I would also wear a tartan with which I identified such as Maple Leaf, the Government tartan, Nova Scotia or Cape Breton but I would never wear a kilt in another clan's tartan even one of the several Highland names further up my family tree unless it was being worn as part of a uniform.