Good evening all,

This is by no means my first kilt, but I have been very frugal over the years and have tons of kilts, but have never purchased a brand new of my own!

I have ordered a swatch of a Murphy Muted, MacDonald Modern, and MacArthur Modern.

I really like the dark color of MacDonald and my 3rd great grandmother was Mary McDonald. She married my 3rd great grandfather in Glasgow, but I'm not certain of anything regarding her father's side. Father's name was John McDonald a foundry laborer, mother was a Rose Kelly. I once found a couple that I thought might be her parents, but determined they weren't.

I know that a lot of the familial tartan trend is much more of a recent phenomenon, but I do enjoy the idea as a bit of traditionalist.

On the other hand I really want a Murphy kilt, but at the same time found the Murphy tartan to be a bit of a gimmick being a variation of MacLean of Duart, and also being called Tara which has very little to do with the Murphys of Muskerry or Wexford for that matter.

I think my ultimatel goal in the future is to establish something similar to what Clan Cian has going. A Clan Laighin tartan. The Laighin have spread throughout Ireland and the Isles and have a number of Y DNA signatures that fall in line with the Irish Pedigrees to an incredibly consistent level. I think it would be nice to have a tartan that could engage members in history woven with DNA while establishing a new tradition. I don't know. I'm probably in well over my head, but that's never stopped me before. Hahahaha.

I like the MacArthur Modern tartan and can bear to have one, but at the same time feel a bit odd if I were to go with that as my first without having a MacArthur in my family tree.

I think the swatches will certainly sway me in one direction over another, but I'd appreciate any input from fellow kilt enthusiasts.

Always looking for more Murphy men to join the Murphy DNA project at familytreedna for a Y DNA test. I am looking to bring more enthusiasm to Irish genealogy and hoping to get more folks into kilts along the way.

Kevin Murphy