"Every Surname Has A Tartan" Unpacking a Bummer of a Myth
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ย. 2024
- Many people come to us asking "what is my family tartan" and are disappointed when your find out there is no exact tartan for their surname. How does this idea develop? How can you proceed with getting a kilt that feels like the right tartan for you if you do not have a Clan or family tartan you can "claim"?
--------------------------------------------------
Started in 2003, USA Kilts is a team of kilt makers and artisans located in Spring City PA. In 2017, we made it our mission to build community and bring kilts and Celtic culture to the forefront with our YT show: Kilts & Culture.
www.USAKilts.com
Find Your Tartan!: www.usakilts.c...
TH-cam: / usakiltsofficial
Facebook: / usakilts
Instagram: / usakilts
E-mail: sales@usakilts.com
Sometimes tartans were registered out of collections, rather than from a chieftain or family.
For example, one of my family tartans (Renwick) was discovered in a Canadian collection of tartan fabric. The collection included a small booklet that gave the name of each tartan, and a description (which allowed people to match the name to the sample).
There's no provenance to show how the Renwick name became associated with that sample. However, in the absence of other records, that's how the Renwick tartan ended up becoming registered.
I have looked around for the Currie tartan .
It is one of those that has to be cutom woven usually.
Luckily the Curries are a sept of Clan Donald Of Clanranald and that tartan is available everywhere ( there are Curries that are a sept of Clan MacPhearson too…i know ).
I like how your web site makes it easier to find tartans by searching on names. 👍
Thanks😊
German heritage tartan is gorgeous. My grandmother was german and french, and originally from Austria.
I gathered my ancestors came from France and settled in Ayrshire, and the de Heriz/Herries/Harris family doesn't seem to have our own unique tartan. I gathered they were a sept of Clan Maxwell though, so that's the tartan that I'm planning to get for my next kilt. Then Anderson for my grandmother's side, probably. Her father's family were Irish, but her mother's family were Scottish, and they do have a proper beautiful tartan.
I'm descended from lowlanders. I have 0 documentation that anyone from my family originated in the highlands where the kilt was invented. They all most certainly wore trousers and never put a kilt on. Hell, I have way more English DNA than Scottish. But you know what? I wear the tartans which match the surnames in my family tree anyway.
Don't let anyone stop you as long as you are being respectful to the clan / country. 🏴
There is a MacBryde family tartan - it seems to be derived from the MacDonald of the Isles Hunting tartan. Wear Hunting tartans so that the Feds can't ID you by your tartan!
Learn something new everyday. Kinda makes sense to me now why I can’t find a tartan or a clan. I have one of my lines on my ancestry account back to the early 1600s so far, finally found Scottish ancestors, and the region they’re from is lowland.
Doesn't always count you out though. My ancestor is listed as a lowland resident but has a highland surname. That surname is a sept name claimed by 4 clans. (Alison, Allison, Ellis, Elis, all the same family just different spellings over time.)
I think what people gotta realize is tartan worn in kilt form with predominantly a Highland thing. Clans were predominantly a Highland thing. Now my clan which is lowland did have a Recognized clan chief. And if you look at the maps of Scotland, you’ll see a few clan chiefs in the south. Nowhere near the amount throughout the Highlands. And a lot of the southern Klan chiefs were influenced more by England and France and other countries than the fashions of the highlands. So a tartan and a kilt were not part of the Lolan culture. And then when the kilt and the clan tartan became all the rave, some clans like mine no longer had a clan chief. We lost ours and I think 1697 was our last clan chief. When he was put to death his family migrated to America. So we had absolutely nobody to recognize and authorize a clan tartan. And even today we don’t have anybody that can do that. This is why we do not have an official clan tartan.
I think if they put George in Tartan or if Wills starts wearing kilts more regularly, THAT might be a massive boon for the industry. From all accounts, George & Co are rather fond of their grands and the grands are fond of them, so I honestly wouldn't be surprised to start seeing the wee royals rocking tartans, especially on family outings in the highlands.
I'll also openly admit that the disappointment is real when you are doing your due diligence on the family tree & finally identify where the Scottish comes from, only to realize they're all lowlanders & you're not sure if the Sept/tartan you've found is actually for the surname in your family tree. Thanks to the early death of three matriarchs in my family, knowledge beyond, "you're definitely part Scottish" was lost... but my great-great grandmother was a Dunsmore whose father was born in Perthshire and man, it feels SO GOOD to give names to the people who came before you.
+USAKiltsOfficial *Thanks for the historian perspective.* Historically, Alba had regional Tartans in the same manner as county Tartans for Eire. Carmichael Ancient originated in Lanarkshire, GBR, during the 18th Century as an ID for Galchain residents of the barony.
Universal Tartans originated in the British Army. Black Watch is an adaptation of the Campbell Old Colors sett for standardization with the Modern color palette; I estimate an adaptation of Royal Stewart for the Scots' Guards. The United States private sector developed universal Tartans, e.g. the Heritage range, for various purposes.
What tartans are you guys wearing. It wound be great to know as I have trouble looking at a swatch online vs seeing it being worn.
Wait a minute….. How am I just noticing this? Are ya’ll playing D&D at that table when the camera’s are off?
My family are technically French in origin having landed around Stonehaven South of Aberdeen in historical times. However there is another French family group of Massons who came over with William the Conqueror so no real connection apart from it being a trade name. Somehow on research our side seems to have been aligned with Macdonald so that's what I wear.
What do you mean I don't have a tartan. My family orientated in Wales.
Do you recommend US military tartans for those who have served if they cannot find any clan link? After all for many veterans the military was their family/clan.
US military tartans are a universal tartan with all veterans and active military in mind. I have seen veterans wear them, especially at Renaissance Fairs and Highland Games.
I'm fortunate, I served with the Navy, so the Edzell tartan is one I go for. I also served in both the Air Force and Coast Guard Auxiliary, and so I go for those also, plus dad was Air Force, so I'll wear that in his honor also. This is on top of multiple clan and district tartans.
Well some tartans are not woven often, Muirhead is very hard to find with no clan chief since the battle of flodden.
Well guys once y'all get all the catch 22 fixed please let me know. Now to a more important point. My order 100084978 arrived, Tara/Murphy, and it's absolutely beautiful thank you! Now carry on. 😉☘️👍😁
Knowing that the tartan is more from the highlands it has puzzled me that being of a lowland clan how we have a tartan. Our clan chief and most of the lesser chieftains died at flodden in the early 1500's.
Surname Tartan might be a District Tartan, or a larger clan name
I am a sept of 2 clans. But i am a sept of 4 other clans due to intermarriage
Are lowland tartans less legit, or less cool than highland tartans?
Sometimes names are septs, so the tartan name might not “match,” some clans are armigerous, etc. Some (such as Carmichael) didn’t have one until like the ‘80s when the clan chief approved one, but they are associated with the Stewarts (and possibly others)
I’m not sure how the Craig one became official b/c they have been armigerous since forever but they got one in the ‘80s somehow.