Which tartan for MacClive?

[Nathan]

This site is also helpful because it has surname variations. McCleave seems to be one.
http://robertson-gorrie.com/document...meVariants.pdf

Regarding your father's pride in being Scottish, there's nothing saying he wasn't Scottish. The question is simply whether his Gaelic speaking ancestors came from the Scottish Gaidhealtacht or crossed over from Northern Ireland. There are families with the same Gaelic name (Dunnshleibhe) in both countries. Also, it certainly doesn't make one less Scottish. If you trace it back, most of the famous Scottish families came to Scotland from somewhere else. There has also always been a steady stream of immigration from Ireland to different parts of Scotland. After a few generations they were indeed Scots, but their names remained Irish.

Interestingly, the Electric Scotland site that claims MacClave and MacCleave are associated with Galloway.

http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/spellings.htm

http://www.scotclans.com/scottish_cl...y/history.html

http://houseoftartan.co.uk/scottish/searchsurname.asp

I'm just unsure about whether they are saying the Galloway district or clan. So if MacClive is a variation of those names, that seems to point there.

Again, rather than going with a maternal great grandfather, you can always wear the district tartan of Ayrshire where you know your father's family comes from. Galloway is adjacent to Ayrshire so there is a compelling case that we may be getting closer to your particular MacClives/MacClaves.