Family Name and Clan

[Don Patrick]

Sorry for being out of the net for so long. My motorcycle and I were run down by another vehicle on January 31. It's taken me a while to recooperate.

I guess I'm testing the waters. I for one, believe it is important (at least for myself) that I have some justifiable basis for wearing a particular tartan. Before anyone gets overly upset - this is my own personal belief. A belief I do not suggest should be forced on others.

If I'm correct and if my ancestry possesses the family name that matches a sept or a clan, I submit I'm empowered to wear the tartan of that clan. I understand this to be true from the Clan Chief's web site and believe I can safetly say that several if not many others on this site agree.

Is there some flaw in my assumption?

[J.B. Simpson]

For me as well. I feel that I need a connection to a tartan to wear it. I will not lock myself into a few generations though. My Great Great Grandmother was a Gordon, so in my mind that is my connection to the Gordon Tartans. I just can't get into the "I like it so I will wear it" attitude, but to each his own (I guess some would be grateful that someone wanted to wear their tartan).

[gilmore]

Don-

I am with you. I don't wear kilts in tartans of clans I have no connection to.

[Don Patrick]

Don-

I am with you. I don't wear kilts of clans I have no connection to.

My question goes a bit further. I certainly agree there needs to be an association, But al I also ask, given an associated family name, is anyone aware of any exceptions to this rule or approach?

[Nighthawk]

For me as well. I feel that I need a connection to a tartan to wear it. I will not lock myself into a few generations though. My Great Great Grandmother was a Gordon, so in my mind that is my connection to the Gordon Tartans. I just can't get into the "I like it so I will wear it" attitude, but to each his own (I guess some would be grateful that someone wanted to wear their tartan).

My great great grandfather, my great grandfather and my grandmother had the last name Wolfe. By my great great grandfathers military paperwork, he was a border Scot. The family legend is that we are direct relations to James Wolfe, one of the Whig officers in the 1745 uprising. He refused orders to shoot wounded Clansmen after the battle of Culloden, almost to the point of mutiny. I want a Wolfe family tartan kilt very badly (it's a special weave and expensive) and truth be told, I would have no problems at all with someone wearing it if they had no connection to my family. Heck, it's kinda an ugly tartan, so if you want to wear it, more power to ya... See my avatar.

[IrishGary]

All my best regarding your recovery-- i laid a 'cycle down once in a much less serious way, and still it unnerved me. I quit driving one when i almost had my finale, and all the defensive driving in the world wouldn't have saved me: just very lucky.
I agree with the opinion, just for me, that i prefer a tie to a clan in order to wear their tartan. The universals are all right, but being of the Turnbull persuasion, I prefer that tartan.

[sirdaniel1975]

I really like "Gilmore's" comments in this thread. I have been doing research on my family genealogy for about 10 years now. I spent most of that time gathering information and evidence from my family alone. The past year I dove head first into heavy research.

I have disproved many things my family has previously thought and that I was told when I was a teenager. I have discovered that my family "Williamson's" in no way had any tie to clan Gunn. However there is another family line that was from Caithness Scotland (Gunn Territory) that has some marriages to some Gunn's. I have no problem wearing that tartan.

As a result of my research, I have come up with some pretty solid connections to other clans with other names in my families genealogy. Some of which are: Sutherland, Buchanan, Dunlop, Forbes, Gordon, and Stewart. Most of the areas my family has genetic ties to are Aberdeen, Caithness, Glasgow (Lanark), and Kildonan (Sutherland).

When you do the research, your findings will always be way more interesting than just going with the popular routine.

example: My Williamson ancestors From Glasgow were potters, and I have recently learned through contacting the Scottish Pottery Society that they owned and operated "Wellington Pottery" in Glasgow during the 19th century. According to the Pottery society, Wellington pottery is very rare and they have very few pieces. They were members of the Barony parish during the time of famous minister Norman McLeod's time as the minister of that parish. They also met at Glasgow Cathedral before the Barony Kirk was built. I have also learned that some of my ancestors were members of the Scottish Rite. Not to mention that my Great great grandfather was in the Royal Scots Greys during the Crimean War.

This is solid information, not the: well my surname is on the sept list of clan "blah blah blah."

[macneighill]

When you do the research, your findings will always be way more interesting than just going with the popular routine.

Agreed! When I first became enthralled with tracing my family line, I went on pretty much the "norm". We kept hearing "you're a Nelson so, you can belong to several clans".

Well, this wasn't good enough for me. I wanted specifics, plain and simple. It has taken us 20 some years to get to where we are today. That's why I'm proud of my line. The more I became "involved" with learning my family's history and, the further back we had gone . . the more interesting it became.

[McFarkus]

For me as well. I feel that I need a connection to a tartan to wear it. I will not lock myself into a few generations though. My Great Great Grandmother was a Gordon, so in my mind that is my connection to the Gordon Tartans. I just can't get into the "I like it so I will wear it" attitude, but to each his own (I guess some would be grateful that someone wanted to wear their tartan).

Hey, cousin, my 2nd great-grandmother was also a Gordon!

Hey FloridaRedHead - from Chicago

[sharpdressedscot]

Glad to hear you lived, my dad had something similar a few years back. Tore up his hand into hamburger meat, shattered (I mean shattered, it's in pieces but he can still walk) and huge scrapes and cuts.

I think you can wear any tartan you wish, but it can mean alot more if you have a connection with it. I'm a Gillmore (Morrison if you will) and I wear a Wallace tartan.

random moment: would it be weird if a Morrison wore a MacLeod? I mean, we're very very very very very distant kin, but we have that rivalry thing...