Brown (the name, not the color) Tartan

[kmaclea]

Anyone know which tartans are most commonly worn by those of the name Brown or Broun? I see mention of at least 3 tartans online, but I'm curious which are the most popular?

Kyle=

[gilmore]

It may very well not be Scots.

Surname profiler here http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/Surnames.aspx shows Brown as occurring in England about as much as in Scotland, and Broun in northern England and Wales as well as Scotland.

The best thing is to trace one's genealogy backward in time, documenting one generation at a time. Or you might get lucky with Y DDNA. See the FAQ at www.ftdna.com.

[SteveB]

To throw an even bigger monkey wrench into the tartan thing. I am a Brown(e), and am a descendant of the sept of Clan Lamont, with many tartans to choose from. Like about ten percent of the Irish, I also descend from MacNeil of Barra. May the kilt kollection grow.
I do not own a "Brown" tartan kilt...(yet)? As gilmore said if it is the genealogy you are after, it is one step at a time. If it is the tartan, that is a good question, as I do not know how many of us X-Markers are Browns. My family was in Scotland, Ireland, then England, then to the U.S.A. in 1637. The record chasing was fun.
Steve Brown

[macwilkin]

Please post all tartan-related questions in the heraldry & tartans section.

Thanks!

Todd

[BoldHighlander]

As gilmore said if it is the genealogy you are after, it is one step at a time. If it is the tartan, that is a good question, as I do not know how many of us X-Markers are Browns. My family was in Scotland, Ireland, then England, then to the U.S.A. in 1637. The record chasing was fun.
Steve Brown

Good question Steve. I have a pair of Browns in my family tree occuring here in the States (connecting the McReynolds line with my Scobee line). The furthest mine has been researched is my ancestor Daniel "Dance" Brown born 1776/1777 in Virginia. As to rather his people were Irish, Scottish, or English is anybody's guess

[Cawdorian]

Brown's are hard to trace, there are so many of them, on the census forms you will find many James's, William's etc. My grandmother was a Brown, family oral tradition says they came from Scotland, I can get my Brown's back to 1783 in Pennsyvania, that is as far as I can get.

My Lamont heritage comes through the Patrick sept, not the Brown's. In order to determine the clan your Brown's came from, you would have to trace the family lines back to the clan or adjacent lands in Scotland. The Lamont's and the McMillan's both claim the Scottish Brown's. I don't believe there is or was a Brown or Broun clan.

The Brown tartan was commisioned by Queen Victoria for her friend Major John Brown.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Whether you are a Scottish "Brown" or not you might want to apply for membership in one of the clans of which Brown is a sept, and then wear that tartan. Unless you have a genealogical connection to either Clan Lamont or Clan MacMillan, your decision could be based on simple aesthetics-- choosing the tartan you like the most.

[gilmore]

Whether you are a Scottish "Brown" or not you might want to apply for membership in one of the clans of which Brown is a sept, and then wear that tartan. Unless you have a genealogical connection to either Clan Lamont or Clan MacMillan, your decision could be based on simple aesthetics-- choosing the tartan you like the most.

For me personally that isn't a very satisfactory underlying method. It would be not unlike saying to oneself, "That clan has an interesting history that appeals to my subjective sensbilities based on my likes and dislikes, and shores up my sense of self. I will therefore decide retrospectively that my ancestors were associated with them."

I came to tartans and kilts through genealogy, which is fraught with family stories that are sometimes true, sometimes have a grain of truth, and are sometimes outright lies. The further back in history one goes, the less one is able to do original research, and the more one has to rely on secondary sources and other people's work, and hence the less reliable it becomes.

Making dubious claims and connections about oneself is one thing, but the greater problem to me is that they inevitably are passed on and embroidered and relied upon by relatives and descendants, to their detriment. It only makes more work for future serious researchers.

I have quite a bit of Scots ancestry, and own kilts of tartans related to various aspects of it, to clans, districts, etc; however, the origins of my surname are not precisely known at this point. It has been associated with two clans, and my guess is that it is unlikely that my ancestors were associated with one of those. Or it could have been associated with no clan at all. (Remember, almost all the clans existed only in the highlands and islands during the time that the clan system was relevant, and were always a minority of the people of Scotland, until lowland clans were constructed in relatively recent years.) So, I have decided not to wear a kilt in a clan tartan associated with my surname until I know with more certainty what that clan is, if any.

Lets us suppose that Mr Brown sees a tartan, takes a fancy to it, has a kilt made in it, buys a kilt pin, cap badge, cuff links, banner, etc, with the clan crest badge, his relatives follow suit, travel to the site that that clan inhabited on vacation, spending thousands of dollars, and does genealogy the wrong way (that is, forward to the present rather than backward to the past) and spends years that could have been spent on more useful research, only to find out that the facts of his family history are quite different. This has happened more than once. What should he and his family do then? Start wearing tartan associated with the clan with which he has newly discovered connections? The only ones who would profit are the kilt merchants and and the Scottish tourist industry.

Others may differ, but I would prefer to know the truth about my ancestry, whatever that might be, than indulge in appealing falsities.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Others may differ, but I would prefer to know the truth about my ancestry, whatever that might be, than indulge in appealing falsities.

Actually, before posting the above, I took the time to check MACLEA's profile, and from that went to his genealogy page. And guess what? He's of Scottish ancestry. Clan MacLea lands are in the west of Argyll-shire, the same place that many of the MacMillan/Browns hail from. Hence my suggestion re: which tartan.

[Fedgunner]

I believe the question was about tartan.

To the best of my knowledge this it the most prevelent Brown tartan out there: