Which family tartan

[FreakPower70]

Hello

I had always assumed when choosing your family tartan you went with your own family name, or fathers name (should you have your father name as a surname). But when I went to a kilt store the young lady informed me that the custom was actually to use your mothers name. So which is it? And if there are any other family rules of thumb please let me in on it.

Thanks
FP

[george7]

It's really up to you, not some lady who works at a kilt shop. I've always thought it was male lineage, as well, being that's how the clan system works.

[Phil]

The Picts, early inhabitants of Scotland, were a matriarchal society where land and possessions passed down through the female line. It may be this is what is behind what you were told, although more recent clans were run along male lines much as today's society. Marriage probably wasn't such a big thing until fairly recent times, however, and a man marrying into a clan may have taken on the name of that clan the same as his partner.

[Dirk Skene]

It does not matter. My clan association is through my mom. Dad's name is English. Most folks I know are associated to a clan by their father's name.

[Wompet]

... My clan association is through my mom. Dad's name is English.

My case is similar - my main Scottish line is from my mother, with my father's side being primarily English. So I had a tartan designed in his family name.

[O'Callaghan]

My case is similar - my main Scottish line is from my mother, with my father's side being primarily English. So I had a tartan designed in his family name.

I also only have celts on my mother's side, although Irish in my case, my father's side being entirely English AFAIK. I don't think I'd design my own tartan, though. I'm content to stick to ones that represent my mother's side.

I could wear St. George's tartan, of course, but have no cheap source for a kilt in that sett. There is a tartan for an American high school and another one commemorating a Canadian politician with my last name, but I think if I wore one of those it would only be good for a joke, and an expensive one at that. There are also Scottish district tartans for my last name, but no evidence that anyone on that side ever came from Scotland, so no reason to wear them.

Of course, there aren't any tartans for most Irish names, but there is a Callaghan tartan, albeit it's very recent. Most Irish names aren't associated with any Irish clan either, but there is an O'Callaghan clan with a chief. I'm fairly sure the tartan is not approved by the chief, but that wouldn't stop me, what actually stops me is the price per yard! There are tartans for Irish names that aren't part of a clan, and at the same time there are Irish clans that have no tartan. Also, instead of septs with different last names being part of a clan, there are merely people who took the clan last name and were not related, which I always have to wonder may include my own ancestors. The clan system in Ireland was not precisely the same as in Scotland, and traditionally Irish kilts were not tartan anyway.

[Carolina Kiltman]

In my case, my Mother was a MacLaine of Lochbuie. Her Mother was French, with a Scots Mother (Boyd). There was also a Paternal Grandmother who was a Boyd. . .

My surname is English, but two of my Great Grandmothers, on my Father's side, were Scots, Ross and Leslie (my middle name). I wear the MoL, simply because it is the most recent.

If you do not have a compelling reason to wear any particular tartan, just pick one you have a connexion to and wear it.

[Riverkilt]

Ain't no rules. None.

I really enjoy wearing the tartans of clans I'm descended from. To do that you gotta honor the maternal lines too. Is a man less a man somehow to his daughter's children than to his son's? I think not.

Been pretty much my rule that if someone throws a rule at me I duck and ignore it and figure they don't know much.

The only rule is no rules. Enjoy the FREEDOM

Ron

[Mair of the Tribe of Mar]

I really enjoy wearing the tartans of clans I'm descended from. To do that you gotta honor the maternal lines too. Is a man less a man somehow to his daughter's children than to his son's? I think not.

I completely agree with RiverKilt! Personally, I believe that you should wear a tartan because you like the looks of it, not because some peddler tells you which one is associated with your family.

That being said, there is also a great sense of pride of wearing a kilt, clan badge, etc, of a clan or family you are associatted with. And with more family connections to kilts, that means the more kilts you are going to have to buy! Oh well!!

[Jock Scot]

If you so choose,going down the male line is usual.