Tartan to choose

[figheadair]

For us Americans, how do we choose the best tartan. I have scottish from a great grandma named low, emigrated from Markinch, Fife. Now it seems lows were part of the McLaren. I also have found I have some McClelland through a 4 times great gma. So which of these would be tartan for me. Or should I use macduff from Fife since that is where they emigrated from. Or just use my us aro force tartan. Looking for how this works and what degree of family I would be

The connection between the name Low and the MacLarens is, like so many other names of physical and topographical origin, more complex than the books would suggest. The name is found in Scotland and England and is a nickname for a short man. It comes from the Middle English lah, lowe (Old Norse lágr). The word was adopted first into the northern dialects of Middle English, where Scandinavian influence was strong, and then spread south. So, unless you can trace your family to the area where the MacLarens lived before the end of the clan system in the mid-18th century, then the alleged connection is dubious.

If it were me, I'd look at McClellan (MacLellan); the Gillies/MacLeish/MacLellan tartan would be the choice here. Alternatively, perhaps the Fife District tartan to acknowledge the Markinch connection.

[Steve Ashton]

Warning - Personal Rant

The thing to remember is that not everyone living in Scotland today, or at any time in the past, is or was, somehow "Automatically" in a Highland Clan.

In the past the Clan system was limited to the NW part of Scotland. If you lived anywhere below the Highland line (Which is just North of Stirling) you would more than likely, not have considered yourself as a member of the Highland system. (the area where your people came from, Markinch, is in the Lowlands)

And Clan membership was not based on your last name. That is a new thing. It was regional. It was about where you lived. If you lived in an area of a particular Clan you could have any name. Look on any Clan map. (and have you ever noticed how different they all are) the Clan had a name yes, but not everyone within a Clan area would have had the same last name. This is where the romantic notion of Septs comes from. The idea of Sept Lists is also recent and there is no one "official" list. Many are pure imagination.

But if you do have membership in a Clan, (and not a Clan Society which is a social group) or carry the same last name as a Highland Clan, and wish to wear that Tartan no one can fault you. No one can fault you for wearing any Tartan if that is your choice.

This thing about Tartan is, and always has been, about fashion. Fed by some very popular novels and good marketing. If you were to ask a Highland Clan member in 1600 what Tartan he should be wearing you would be met with a very confused look. Tartan and Highland Clan association is not ancient.

[figheadair]

Excellent personal rant. 100% agree.

[imbrius]

And sometimes you have tartans that bear the names of families, like mine, who likely never wore the kilt, and, moreover, likely had woven materials in a much simpler blue or grey overcheck pattern instead. That's thanks to the Sobieski Stuarts, a pair of charlatans who capitalized on the Highland Revival craze by inventing a bunch of tartans and claiming to have discovered them in an old book.

Fake as they are, they're still nice looking, and I like the to wear the one that bears my name, even though genealogy suggests that my father's family were mercenaries who deserted Scotland to fight for the English before leaving for North America.

[Father Bill]

And sometimes you have tartans that bear the names of families, like mine, who likely never wore the kilt, and, moreover, likely had woven materials in a much simpler blue or grey overcheck pattern instead. That's thanks to the Sobieski Stuarts, a pair of charlatans who capitalized on the Highland Revival craze by inventing a bunch of tartans and claiming to have discovered them in an old book.

Fake as they are, they're still nice looking, and I like the to wear the one that bears my name, even though genealogy suggests that my father's family were mercenaries who deserted Scotland to fight for the English before leaving for North America.

Some Clan Chiefs have adopted some of the Sobieski tartans. Our Sinclair Hunting tartan was apparently originally a Sobieski tartan.

[OC Richard]

Fake as they are, they're still nice looking...

Seems to me that the Allen Brothers tartans that look nice are usually the ones they lifted from then-current tartans.

Left to their own devices, their tartans were generally simple-minded, crude, and based on the false notion that in ancient times Clan tartans functioned as a sort of Heraldry on the battlefield.

They often re-used a simplistic unrefined pattern over and over, merely switching colours and/or adding a line or two.

A few of their 3-equal-stripe tartans:



And some of their 4-equal-stripe tartans:

[Hrafnar]

The connection between the name Low and the MacLarens is, like so many other names of physical and topographical origin, more complex than the books would suggest. The name is found in Scotland and England and is a nickname for a short man. It comes from the Middle English lah, lowe (Old Norse lágr). The word was adopted first into the northern dialects of Middle English, where Scandinavian influence was strong, and then spread south. So, unless you can trace your family to the area where the MacLarens lived before the end of the clan system in the mid-18th century, then the alleged connection is dubious.

If it were me, I'd look at McClellan (MacLellan); the Gillies/MacLeish/MacLellan tartan would be the choice here. Alternatively, perhaps the Fife District tartan to acknowledge the Markinch connection.

This has been a very informative and great answer. Thanks for the response. I am more into historical and accurate connections. So what tartan would be the markinch fife district you mention? Closest I can find is macduff?

[figheadair]

This has been a very informative and great answer. Thanks for the response. I am more into historical and accurate connections. So what tartan would be the markinch fife district you mention? Closest I can find is macduff?

Here you go - the (Duke of) Fife tartan.

[FossilHunter]

Here you go - the (Duke of) Fife tartan.

An attractive tartan as well.