I come from lowland stock. I Can trace back to the families old stomping grounds in the borders. Kilt wearing is NOT a family tradition. I am the first Douglas of my line to wear the family tartan. The Douglas tartan is a symbol that allows me to broadcast to others and say, "I acknowledge my Scottish heritage."

I made a decision to learn more about my family when I chose to order my first kilt. Wearing the Douglas tartan does not change a single thing about my family, our stories, or the connection to Scotland. The tartan is the most visible symbol I choose to use to proclaim my family's Scottish connection.

Mackinnon's opinion that only one who has the surname has an "entitlement" to the tartan, while one without the surname is free to wear it but cannot claim "entitlement" in essence renders the whole idea meaningless. What on earth does it mean to claim some individuals have a special entitlement to a tartan, which he then admits that anyone else is free to wear? In effect it means that there is no such entitlement at all; the notion that there is serves only to "puff up" the man who actually bears the clan surname. It creates the illusion that he is somehow more "authentically Scottish" than the person with a sept name.
Well said Matt, well said.

Rob