Quote Originally Posted by Jock Scot View Post
Good points raised here, but you know, not all of us in Scotland are MacSomethings, not all of us, even in the Highlands of Scotland, have a "family" tartan and not all Scotsmen, even if they have a tartan connected name, want to wear the kilt and don't even know, or care, that their name is connected to a particular tartan. Some of those do choose a "universal" tartan, some might choose an "area tartan" and some might just pick a tartan that they happen to like.

I am going to generalise now. If truth be known, one really does not want to get too wound up with this "strong affiliation" idea. Believe me once you have sat through an hour or two listening to an oh so boring tartan justifation lecture in the pub, coffee shop, wherever, looking at faded pictures of a second cousin four times removed belonging to a complete stranger that "proves" that he is entitled to wear the MacKarrot tartan. "Surely" I can hear you say, "no one does that?" I am afraid they do, all too often and one wonders why they bother. In truth if you want to wear a particular tartan then wear it and frankly no one else apart from those that are interested, care a jot as long as the subject is not brought up in public. In real life, very few in Scotland are really that interested what tartans others are wearing.

No disagreement with that. We're discussing choosing tartans, which the thread started with - rather than proselytizing them, which is uncouth and best done in private ;)