Maybe I do have Scottish roots.

**SuperKnott** · 23rd May 14, 08:05 AM

My Grandfathers side of the family or at least name seems to have originated in The British Isles (Woodburn). That has me super excited. But I can not find a Tartan to match the name. I did read somewhere on an genealogy site the Woodburn s were a "right hand" of the MacKenzie clan, which would tell me Woodburn would have originated in Scotland. If that is true, can someone tell me if it would be frowned upon to wear a MacKenzie tartan?

**Benning Boy** · 23rd May 14, 10:48 AM

Looks like you potentially have a range of choices. Check it out here http://worldnames.publicprofiler.org/Main.aspx

**SuperKnott** · 23rd May 14, 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by Benning Boy

Looks like you potentially have a range of choices. Check it out here http://worldnames.publicprofiler.org/Main.aspx

thanks for the site. It does confirm there are alot of Woodburns from Glasgow and Edinburgh. Hopefully I can find some direct lineage, still no Tartans however.

**KSmedic** · 25th May 14, 03:04 PM

There may not be a specific Woodburn tartan. My family doesn't have one, being a sept of Clan Graham. If you look on the Scottish Tartans Authority website, they have a surname search feature in their Tartan Ferret that should tell you which tartan is the "correct" one. It's possible for a family to be a sept of more than one clan, so you may have a few to pick from. In that case, you can go with the one you like best or think is the most likely, or can continue to dig into your roots to see if you can find a solid link to a particular clan and tartan. Based on my own experience, I could easily trace my roots to the Edinburgh area, but records prior to 1700 get a bit more difficult to find. Graham is my tartan, but I still haven't been able to find out when the families linked.

**mookien** · 25th May 14, 09:11 PM

According to the Expanded Ninth Edition of "Tartan for Me" by Philip D. Smith, the names Woodburn/Woodbourne are associated with the Ayshire District tartan. This tartan may be viewed on the Scottish Register of Tartans at

http://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/qRe...tring=ayrshire

If you click on any of the tartans shown, you will be taken to a larger view of the tartan along with explanatory details about its origin. Note that Philip Smith himself designed the "Ayrshire District" tartan for those folks from Ayrshire who do not have a family tartan.

If you click on the larger picture of the tartan, you will be taken to an even larger "picture". As you will see, this a computer representation of the tartan as opposed to a photographic picture of the tartan, but does give some idea about how the tartan is designed and colored.

Note especially that none of this means you may only wear the "Ayrshire District" tartan. It just gives you a documented connection to that particular tartan in case someone ever asks. In fact you may wear any tartan you choose to wear, eg the MacKenzie.

If someone ever inquires as to why you wear the MacKenzie tartan, you may simply repeat the information you gleaned from the genealogical site. If having documentation of that fact matters to you, then you might want to copy that information for your permanent records in case it disappears from cyberspace.

Good luck in your search for a "meaningful" tartan. There are literally thousands of them out there, so there are probably at least a few of them that you will be proud to wear.

**SuperKnott** · 26th May 14, 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by SuperKnott

My Grandfathers side of the family or at least name seems to have originated in The British Isles (Woodburn). That has me super excited. But I can not find a Tartan to match the name. I did read somewhere on an genealogy site the Woodburn s were a "right hand" of the MacKenzie clan, which would tell me Woodburn would have originated in Scotland. If that is true, can someone tell me if it would be frowned upon to wear a MacKenzie tartan?

Upon further review and help of a few others, It looks like I was mistaken Instead of the MacKenzie clan. It appears the Woodburn's swore there allenge to the Cunningham clan. I sent an email to the Cunningham Clan INTL. seeing if they had any info on this. Woodburn is listed as a sept. on there website.