Finding "Your" Tartan

[davedove]

I was pondering the question of people having a link to a tartan before they would wear it. So I decided to just look at my own links to tartans to maybe help others see how easy it is to find a tartan. Now I’m not going to follow the reasoning that you have to have the surname to wear the tartan. While I respect that point of view, I don’t share it.

OK, my own surname is Dove. While from all my research, it seems my Dove line is from England, there is a Dove surname in Scotland. There is no specific Dove tartan, but one source of the Dove name is as a variation on Duff. So, that is a link to the different Macduff tartans.

Also, the Dove name is listed as one of the septs of the Buchanan clan, thus a link to that tartan.

My father’s mother is a McKean, which is a variation of Macian, a link to that tartan.

The Macians are a sept of the Macdonalds, so there is a link to that tartan.

One of my grandmother’s ancestors was a Cahoon, a variation of Colquhoun, another tartan. By the way, this man was one of the first Cahoon's in North Carolina and rather prolific at that, so if you have a Cahoon ancestor from NC we could very well be related.

That is just a quick look at one side of my family. I haven’t found any Scottish blood yet on my mother’s side, but it may be there as well.

My point here is that with just a little research I have found five different names. If you are in the United States, like most Americans you could probably find just as many.

And of course, this includes only Scottish names. There are also Welsh and Irish name tartans. And that doesn’t even begin to address the many national, district, state, and military tartans. So if you need a link to a tartan, just a little research may give you many options.

Then, as many have said before, if you still can’t find a link, wear whatever tartan you like.