Ok, we've pretty much beaten the "who has a right to wear what tartan" thread to death, but it got me thinking about something else.

When I first decided that I wanted a kilt, that tartan police all told me that I had to find a tartan that I had a "right" to wear. Finally at a Celtic festival, I found my last name (Duke) in a book that said I should wear the Aberdeen district tartan (last night I tried Duke in the Tartan Authority web site and also came up with Aberdeen).

What I want to know is why? At the same festival, the guy who sell coat of arms and stuff gave "proof" that my surname comes from around Cornwall in England, nowhere near Aberdeen. So why should I have the "right" to wear a district tartan of anywhere neither I (nor any of my family as near as I can tell) have ever lived? I do have 9 yards of the tartan (my first kilt was a great kilt) that was hand woven for me (in cotton unfortunately) as a wedding present. It is a beautiful tartan (and one of these days Matt is going to get half of it to make me a box pleat), but is my only right because a book says so?

Adam