Quote Originally Posted by SonofAlba View Post
My understanding has always been that septs are rather like tartans... the actual historical association with a particular clan is largely a fabrication. After all, as has already been pointed out, just as members of a single clan would have worn a huge variety of different tartan colors/patterns, it is not as if particular surnames were necessarily part of a particular clan, while others were necessarily excluded. Seemingly, the primary basis for membership was loyalty to the chief (although this was obviously not unrelated to familial descent).

Nevertheless, this does not make the sept relations or associated tartans to clans unimportant. After all, what most contemporary clansmen/kilt wearers are interested in is not historical reenactment, but rather representing their heritage and culture. In truth, the actual historical clan system (as a social structure and governing system) has evolved into something altogether different: the celebration of one's cultural identity. So, while the idealized clan system and uniform tartan does not perfectly match the organic system of history(which obviously changed and developed over hundreds of years anyway) to ask it to do so is unrealistic... even naive. I think we can proudly represent our heritage without replicating or reenacting...after all we are not playing dress up.
As our own creagdubh would say, ***. I have come to exactly the same conclusion after much reading and even contact with clan chiefs, who were very helpful but, by and large, thought the whole sept business a bit of a mystery too. Surnames don't count for much, really again I'll just refer to to the MacDonalds of Glencoe, whose clan members had the surnames MacAlasdair, MacEanruig, (MacHenry/ Henderson), MacStarken, Robertson, Rankin, Don, Matheson, Kennedy, MacIntyre and MacIan, yet all were Macdonalds of Glencoe. Among the Campbell men who perpetrated the infamous massacre were men also with the surnames MacEnruig, MacHenry, Henderson, and Rankin. Nothing is obviously connected to the commonly held idea of a "sept". No name is fixed, MacDonald, for example, is a surname applicable to any one who had a father named Donald, such as Donald Campbell. I also don't know how people can attribute names being "Anglicised" in such odd ways. A prime example is the name Gilmore, which in some sources is given as taken from a Gaelic version of "Servant of the Virgin Mary", but, to actual Gaelic speakers it seems obvious that it comes from Ghillie Mňr, meaning Big Servant or even great or grand servant. The Ghillie Mňr is praised in song and poetry from several areas of the Highlands, and from several clans, after all, most chiefs would have a head servant, wouldn't they?
So, I can't see how with any certainty the name Gilmore could be a sept of Morrison and no other Clan, although some Gilmores would be Morrisons. What I can't get is how Ghillie Mor, big servant, gets Anglicised into Morrison, meaning Son of Maurice. Some translations are obvious, Donaldson to MacDonald, Robertson to MacRobert, for example, but some are just bamboozling.

James, when I contacted the chief of the MacDonnels of Glengarry, he told me that my family name was considered a principle sept of the clan by previous clan historians. He could name the historians and tell me when they made their assertions, but he could not tell me why. If I was in your position I'd see no harm in asking why Gilbert is considered a sept of Buchanan. I'd also see no harm in asking for clan membership, if that is important to you. The most obvious thing to do, in my eyes anyway, would be to first find out where your family came from. If they are English, French or German Gilberts then even that does not preclude you from wearing the Buchanan tartan, but if they are Scottish Gilberts it will perhaps make your attachment more meaningful.