Filman,

Very few people actually "own" a tartan. Those that do usually do so for commercial purposes (I own a woolen mill, I design and copyright a tartan so that I can be the sole supplier, etc.). Sometimes a private individual will design and copyright a personal tartan, because he wants to limit its use to himself or his family.

But the vast majority of tartans don't fit into this category. I only mention it, because we tend to speak of "my tartan" and "your tartan" and it can get confusing as to just what these terms mean. Usually what we do is "adopt" a pre-existing traditional tartan for our own purposes.

Now, most of the time, we choose to wear a tartan that we beleive has some relavance to our ancestry or heritage. If you beleive that eight generations ago, your family was a part of the Clan MacDonald, who am I to argue? You may be right or wrong in your assumption, but you beleive this is the clan you descend from, so you choose to wear their tartan. You don't "own" it, but you choose to wear it.

So there are no rules about what tartan you can and cannot wear. But the standard practice is to select a tartan that has some signifigance for you, be it a clan, family, district or some other type of tartan.

Aye,
Matt