Irish families as septs of Highland Clans

[NPG]

this brings up a question that I have had for a while. My last name is Hughes. I was told by some it is Irish and by others Scot, but while looking at tartans I found the name in Wales. But I also recently found it on Scotweb as Irish. Could it be considered both? Please excuse me if it's a dumb question. I am new to this.

This is not a dumb question at all. To the best of my knowledge the answer is both. I have Hughes in my family tree, they are Welsh, but I only know this because I can trace from where they originated. That being said it is also an Irish surname. Both I believe are derived from the Gaelic and Welsh respectively for fire. I'm not aware of a Scottish Hughes, but that doesn't mean that they didn't exist. The best thing I can recommend is to trace the line as best you can back to the old country. There are some good sites out there for this, though I prefer relying on family for more of an oral tradition to back up what the documents might tell you.