Question for those who only wear tartans in their bloodline

[Father Bill]

So, what's your surname? If it's a clan name, that's the one. As for three generations back, you must be talking about some clan association. You don't "get" a membership in a clan; you just are what you are, and if it's a clan... you area member by right, not by being had as a member. The heck with the clan association in that case!

[KenB]

Ditto, Father Bill. However, although I wear my family/clan tartan, there are several district/provincial tartans I would wear.

[Pleater]

Hey - I have ties to Wilson - my father's mother was a Wilson.

They were engineers, working on the steam engines which powered the mills of Yorkshire. My father's grandfather and uncle used to give him sixpence to clean out the fireboxes whilst he was still small enough to fit in through the doors.

There is a link to the Vikings - my father and brother had/have Dupuytren's contracture which is considered to be associated with Nordic people. My grandfather and his brothers did not have it, so the Wilson side is the more likely source.

If you have a connection to a family name then I can't see any reason to avoid wearing the tartan associated with it - as long as you are perfectly sure about it and there is no likelihood of there being an error - sometimes a surname can be associated with different clans depending on where they originated geographically.

Here in the UK it is possible to get hold of all sorts of tartans which are not associated with a surname or clan - if you wanted a particular colourway it would be possible with a bit of searching to find several tartans to chose from, non with clan ties.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[duffy794]

My other post will post soon I hope, but things were also complicated because since the red was going to be a kick around for like ren faires and not wool. I was kind of limited to a few tartans. That also got me going on the Maclean, MacQueen, and Robertson

[California Highlander]

For something knockaround, the Celtic Nations, Celtic Glen, and Duke of Rothsay/Prince of Wales are all red-based, available in a USAKilts casual in PV and not clan-based. Royal Stewart is another option that is frequently available from many vendors in PV, acrylic, and wool.

[Kennedy]

The way I understand it, unless the "kilt police" are around you can wear just about any tartan you want (excepting, of course, the restricted tartans) For me, personally, I wear the tartan of my family name. Cost prohibits me from having a number of kilts, so I just have the one kilt. On the other hand, if I chose to go with the clan of my g-g-grandmother, it would be less costly as Campbell tartan is a much more common and more easily found around than is Kennedy. Go online to see what tartans there are. Pick what you like.