Census poll: What is your cultural / historical connection to the kilt?

[ccga3359]

Born in England to English parents, paternal grandmother was Gypsy. English as far back as known. Not naive enough to think that way back when, some sneaky Scot hopped over Hadrians wall for a night on the town!

[Cygnus]

My paternal second-great grandfather was born and (mostly) raised in Scotland, as was his wife (a MacKean); though they met on this side of the Atlantic. My paternal Grandmother's maiden name is Bell and she descends from Scottish Bells as well as Wrights and Lowes (all from the borders).

My mother's side is a bit less Scottish, but still has a smattering; a third-great grandmother that is a Lowe from Scotland as well as a Corbett from the same rung in my geneological ladder.

All told, there are Swans, MacKeans, MacDonalds, Innes, Bells, Craigs, Knoxes, Campbells, Nishes, Galloways, Corbetts, Wrights, and Rosses, all from Scotland, in my family tree. About a third of them emigrated to the United States following the clearances, the other two-thirds came over in the first half of the 19th century.

Aside from that it's mostly English (Emery, Percival, Vincent, Fielding, Blamires) with just a touch of Swede.

[O'Callaghan]

I couldn't find a suitable option in the poll.

I'm 1/8 Irish, although I don't know of any living relatives in Ireland. I think everyone left Ireland behind. I wear either solid colour kilts or kilts in Irish tartans.

OTOH, I have living cousins in Scotland, but I have no Scots blood atall. To be exact, one of my cousins married a Scotsman, and their offspring were born in Scotland. There's nothing tenuous about that link and neither are they all that remote in my family tree, but nor does it mean that I have any Scots heritage.

ETA: That is, I have family ties with Scotland but no Scots heritage, which doesn't seem to be an option.

[CDNSushi]

I couldn't find a suitable option in the poll.

I'm 1/8 Irish, although I don't know of any living relatives in Ireland. I think everyone left Ireland behind. I wear either solid colour kilts or kilts in Irish tartans.

OTOH, I have living cousins in Scotland, but I have no Scots blood atall. To be exact, one of my cousins married a Scotsman, and their offspring were born in Scotland. There's nothing tenuous about that link and neither are they all that remote in my family tree, but nor does it mean that I have any Scots heritage.

ETA: That is, I have family ties with Scotland but no Scots heritage, which doesn't seem to be an option.

Call it an inaccurate turn of phrase on my part then. Apologies. I got sloppy and should have written: "tenuous and/or extended" and in your case, being that your cousins are Scottish would put you into the second-to-last category by my way of thinking and intention for how the poll was supposed to be set up.

And although I did not write it explicitly, I would treat matters of adoption and marriage as being either a direct family link, or an extended family connection, as the case may be.

[Oddern]

I have no Scottish heritage or connection that I know of. But may be some viking forefather of mine went to Scottland to rape and pillage, and took with him some beautifull Scottish lassie back to Norway.....
Skål!

[Bugbear]

Something bothered me about the choice I felt I had to select: the last one. Though I am not Scottish, I don't consider my canvas kilt to be a Scottish kilt. The title does ask about "the kilt," which could be taken to mean the Scottish kilt, proper. I should have thought more about the question and refrained from voting.

Just something I wanted to get off my mind.

[Laird_M]

I have direct links via my father to the MacLeods.

I also have links to the Welsh on my mother's side.

[CDNSushi]

Something bothered me about the choice I felt I had to select: the last one. Though I am not Scottish, I don't consider my canvas kilt to be a Scottish kilt. The title does ask about "the kilt," which could be taken to mean the Scottish kilt, proper. I should have thought more about the question and refrained from voting.

Just something I wanted to get off my mind.

I don't think so... I think you did just fine choosing what you did. Indeed I did not specify what type of kilt, and that's not really the most important thing here. Your canvas kilt may not be any more traditional or any more Scottish than my Utilikilt, but first, it's that Utilikilt that brought me to XMTS in the first place, and second, Utilikilt and many other modern kiltmakers are and have been inspired by and influenced the Scottish variety even though the end product may be different.

It's all good -- and needs not be over-thought. This is not a scientific poll, merely an interesting one (to me, anyway).

[EagleJCS]

As I've said here before, I'm also an "American mutt". The only ethnicities I know of for certain in my heritage are German, Luxembourger (on Mom's side) and Irish (on Dad's side). The most recent immigrant in my ancestry was over 100 years ago.

Going by just my paternal line, I am a Louisvillian (2nd generation), Kentuckian (7th generation), and natural - meaning I was born here - U.S. citizen (also 7th generation).

There is a presumed connection to the kilt (nothing proven yet, as some of the documentation is missing/destroyed) through my family name - Scott. Even that is somewhat tenuous, as the Scott's are a Borders clan and as such, likely never wore tartan, much less kilts, until about 1822. There's a possibility my ancestors came from the Elgin area, which is just east of Inverness, but that's still not Highland, is it?

Anyhow, that's my connection. (I'm also a piper, but I don't think that falls under the question of cultural/historical connection.)

[Jaggy thistle]

I am pure Scottish on both sides of the family I have traced my fathers family back to 1622 that is as far as I have got so far we are a sept of the Black Douglas family