Clans and Septs

[gilmore]

Have a question... When going for your ancestry, do you go off of your father or mothers side? It's sooo convuluded. My last name is Hornsby (father's side obviously), very English with an actual village in Cumbria UK named Hornsby where we all originally hail from. Then on my mothers side, her maide name (her fathers name) is Christian, which is Scottish from the original "Christianus." Then her mothers (my grandmother) maiden name is Macdaniel, which is an anglicized version of Macdonald of the clan Macdonald in the Hebrides Islands on the West Coast of Scotland.

So as you can see I have majority of Scottish ancestry in my blood, but i currently carry the name of my father who's background is English. Can I "claim" the tartan of the Macdonald clan from Scotland, since it's my mothers side, does that make a difference? How does this work?

How does it work? It usually doesn't.

Only about half the Scots or fewer were highlanders and thus a part of the clan system, which was itself dismantled hundreds of years ago, long before the idea of clan tartans was invented, and promoted by millowners and kilt merchants selling their wares to a newly rich but largely uninformed urban middle class in the early to mid 19th century, nostalgic for an idealized rural history that never existed.

As has been pointed out, most clan associations are happy to claim anyone whose check for membership dues doesn't bounce. Some come up with long lists of alleged septs, or affiliated surnames, that are extremely common and widespread, and most of whose bearers never had ancestors associated with them or any other clan. Many of the lists overlap and have names in common.

Wearing the district tartan that one's ancestors came from has some basis in reality. Or, if one likes for things to make sense, one could wear a tartan one has, or think one has or would like to have some familial connection with, no matter how tenuous. It is less expensive to decide to be descended from a family whose tartan is common and not so dear, like MacKenzie or Stewart, rather than choosing for one's ancestors an obscure name whose tartan would have to be especially woven. Or one could wear any tartan with groovy colors. The choice of tartan is becoming increasingly meaningless, especially in the US.

[Riverkilt]

Hey Ron Paul,

Seems like if we didn't use maternal lines we'd only have the one clan of our fathers. But that's not where our blood comes from.

Of my 16 great grandparents, only one is a Macdonald. But there are also Gillis, Fletcher, Gordon, Scott and Frasier Scottish lines. And Gardener, Taft, and Doyle Irish lines, and Lewis from Wales....and a bunch of English ancestors.

Take it back to my great great grandparents and I add the Cameron line.

I think my DNA carries traits from all these lines... so I honor them all equally.

From what I know of my female ancestors they were all strong women...and I honor that too. And they all had fathers...and I honor them.

Ron