Quote Originally Posted by ThistleDown View Post
Lots of Davidsons in Scotland. It was the twenty-fifth most common name at one 19C point in time. There were Davidsons in Roxbourghshire, Ayrshire, The Lothians, Fife, Aberdeenshire, Caithness, Perthshire, Ross-shire, Inverness-shire. Also in Ulster (with Macdhais), Cumbria, Northumberland and the Home Counties. Sons of David, a Hebrew name. Queen Elizabeth of England had a Davison Secretary; a Bishop of Canterbury out of Mid-Lothian was a Davidson; there are Davisons in Orkney and Davies in Wales. Most are without a connection to the Davidsons of Badenoch, the Mackintoshes, the Macphersons and the Clan Chattan. Some are, of course, and the place of origin for your name always sets you on the right track (well, given that that's not 18th or 19C Glasgow or Dundee, that is). The Davidson of Tulloch tartan is peculiarly to the Highland family claimed to be descendants of the Badenoch/Lochaber origin of the clan and I will leave the Clan Davidson tartan to Peter Macdonald to origin for us. My understanding is that it is based on the Government tartan through Davidson of Cantray. Both Cantray and Tulloch, of course, were descended of the Clan Chattan. In the borders look to the family with which your ancestor was territorially attached.
No doubt all largely correct, although I would add that Clan Chattan is more a confederation of other clans, but with a tartan of its own. This also underlines how there are all manner of English and Scottish Davidsons unrelated to eachother and unconnected to the clan.