Quote Originally Posted by Raptor View Post
I also personally will only wear a tartan I have a blood connection to. However,(just to play "devil's advocate") how about where a clan ends up septs of various other clans? For example: my Muir blood is
etc. etc.

Ok, someone's brought up the topic of 'blood'. So to really play devil's advocate, even if you were to take the trouble to do a bit of genealogical research on scotlandspeople.gov.uk,
1) you'll probably only be able to go back to the mid 18th century before you run out of clues to help you figure out who your 4x or 5x great grandparents were. Sometimes you can only go back to an OPR marriage record, which might not give you the groom's or bride's parents names. (I get this from experience because I ran into an "Archibald Wilson, not of this Parish". Well, that could be the next shire over, could be England, could be Ireland...
2) you're assuming that biological paternity is always recorded accurately...

Probably in most cases it is, but what if you run across an illegitimacy?

Your ability to 'prove' a blood connection is more tenuous that you might wish to recognize.

I had about come to terms with the idea that in my case, the popular but frequently groundless association of the name Wilson with clan Gunn, was about as valid as wearing the Wilson tartan, which was designed by Wilson's of Bannockburn for a family member's wedding. I haven't been able to prove any connection to them, either.

Actually a lot of clan tartans aren't any older than Wilson's 1819 catalog.