Clan Gunn

[socalferg]

Greetings and Welcome from SoCal

[Kiltman]

Welcome from Eastern Washington State.

[McNulty]

Good evening and welcome from the Western Slope!
Nulty

[Big Paul]

from Detroit, Michigan, USA!

[Ruanaidh]

Welcome to the rabble from West Texas.

[Jock Scot]

Welcome,from Inverness-shire.

[gilmore]

A word of caution: It might be wise to do a bit (OK, a lot) of genealogical research before your family invests thousands of dollars in Clan Gunn paraphernalia.

A few decades ago my father came across one of those list of septs allegedly associated with the various clans. It showed our surname as a sept of the Gunns. Based on that, and little more, one nephew got an expensive kilt in the Gunn tartan, my sister wasted some days in Scotland looking for a Gunn connection that very likely doesn't exist, and another nephew had a quite large tattoo of the Gunn clan crest tattooed on his back.

Later research shows that the likelihood of my family's connection to the Gunns is very small, probably nonexistent.

The clan Gunn associations and the tartan merchants who cater to them have come up with a list of their alleged septs that include many extremely common names. Many of those with some of these surnames are not even of Scots descent, but had English, Irish or even German patrilineal ancestry.

Here http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/a...t=gilmore+gunn you will find posted research I have done showing the very low probability that any particular person bearing many of these surnames has any connection with the Gunns. This has been shown both genetically through DNA testing as well as through demographics.


Of course one can wear any tartan one wants and can afford, and one can also engage in some modern facsimile of the ancient practice of manrent and declare one's allegiance to the chief of a clan and thus think of oneself as belonging to it. Or rather, one could if the Gunn clan had a chief, which it hasn't since the 19th century. See http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/b...t=gilmore+gunn Thus, according to those who strictly construe such matters, it isn't really even a clan, since according to the Lyon court, the final arbiter in these matters, what makes a clan a clan is the existence of a recognized chief. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Gu...o_19th_Century

(However, I came across this in the above-referenced Wikipedia article: "The Lyon Court has recently identified William Sinclair Gunn of Inverness as the heir to the chiefship of Clan Gunn. If Mr. Gunn petitions to be named chief and is, then the Lyon Court will design his arms at that time." So, the Gunns may soon have a chief and be a true clan again at long last.)



There are only two ways to know with any degree of certainty about one's ancestry. One is the slow, laborious method of tracing the paper trail backward in history, documenting by the best evidence one generation at a time before moving on to the preceding one. Some people enjoy genealogical research. Others don't. I do. It can be quite rewarding.

The other method that may or may not yield results is relatively new, DNA testing. Men inherit Y chromosome DNA from their fathers, and thus testing for it can show with varying degrees of probability who one is related to and thus who one is descended from. A good explanation of how this works is the FAQ at www.familytreedna.com. DNA testing can also often show who one is NOT related to, and that can be very helpful in deciding where further research would be beneficial, and where research would be likely a waste of time.

[McMathTX]

Welcome from Fort Worth!
Dean