Is clan affiliation primarily along paternal lines?

[unixken]

Dave T and Dave D - you both make great points.

[Downunder Kilt]

Further, the classic clan was historically a highland phenomenon, while lowland "clans" are a much more recent development.
.

Please no generalisations. I know the Ruthven clan (C11th century) would be most upset with this statement

[Tobus]

Basically a clan tartan is tied to having a clan or clan-sept surname. That being the case, if one's father's surname is not associated with a clan, then one adopts the tartan of the clan to which they are most closely related (i.e. that of their Mother or some other relative from whom they are descended) which, based on the information you've supplied, would seem to be Buchanan.

This seems to be common, and is the case for me as well. My father's surname is solidly English, but my mother's lineage is from a sept of Clan Colquhoun; so I wear the Colquhoun tartan (and have been accepted in that clan's association).

However, I am led to believe that many Scots do not see it as being this simple. Even the Court of the Lord Lyon states, "Strictly speaking you do not have the right to wear your mother's tartan unless you have taken her surname." However, I'm not sure that this carries any real authority.

[David Thorpe]

Please no generalisations. I know the Ruthven clan (C11th century) would be most upset with this statement

There are of course exceptions to almost every rule.

[ThistleDown]

It most certainly is possible. It would be very easy to be born a McDonald and yet have no connection to the McDonald clan. McDonald really just means "son of Donald", so the first McDonald in the family, let's call him Angus McDonald, was really Angus son of Donald. Then surnames become common and all of Angus's kids now carry the surname of McDonald. Here's the kicker though, Donald could have been from any clan, not necessarily the McDonalds. So, you could have Angus McDonald of the Campbell clan, for example.

Another example in support of this is the name Davidson, simply the 'son of David'. There was a relatively small offshoot of the old Clanchattan that adopted the name and descendants can still be found from Badenoch to Nairn. But there were far greater numbers of Davidsons in Ayrshire, Aberdeenshire and Roxboroughshire and these had no connection whatsoever with that little Highland clan that Anglicised its name. Today, however, all with the surname look to Davidson of Davidston as chief and all have adopted the tartan that didn't begin with the chief's ancestors in any case.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Scott,

Thanks for the reply.

So if I understand correctly, using my own affiliations as diagrammed in my opening post as an example, the principle affiliation falls primarily along paternal lines where possible. Thus, if my great grandfather (the Buchanan) were not such, his marriage to an Aberdeen allegiance would bring him and his descendents under that fold, regardless (at this point) of what was present in the Ellis & Lyons side of the family (my father's maternal predecessors).

If neither the Buchanan nor Aberdeen allegiances were present (in my fathers paternal ancestry), in the absence of a legitimate tartan allegiance in the Ellis branch, the Lyons affiliation would be claimed/passed down.

Is that correct?

Yup, for aught yet seen, that pretty much nails it.

[Meggers]

Meggers, it is certainly possible to have a Scottish surname without automatically being a member of the clan (I'm proof). I have not yet been able to trace my paternal line (Scott) back far enough to determine where the family came from prior to appearing in the tax records of early Kentucky (1792/93). I have been told by members of the Clan Scott Society (Clan Scott is a Borders clan or family) that there are three distinct lineages of Scott's from the British Isles, only one of which is Scottish (the other two being English and Irish).

That said, I and my sister have still been welcomed into the Clan Scott Society (though I guess anyone willing to pay dues would also be equally welcome ). I have also been told that being Scott's by birth, we would also likely be welcomed by the Chief into the 'Clan proper' if we should choose to ask him (though there's really not a formal 'clan' outside the Society anymore) even though we don't have the lineage proving we're actually Scottish Scott's.

I see. Thats a great example.

In my case, I am a Walker which was a common alias name for MacGregors. I know being a Walker does not mean I am a MacGregor unless I can find a MacGregor in my tree somewhere. However, Walker is both a Scottish and an English last name and my Walkers are Scottish, not English. My great-great grandfather, James Walker, was from Scotland. I have been searchnig long and hard to trace him further back and to absolutely no avail. He seems to have just disappeared from history and all I have is his name on a death certificate.

Walker is an anglicized occupational last name used in England and in the Grampian region of Scotland. It also stems from the Gaelic term "Mac an fhucadair" or "son of a fuller" since a fuller was someone who trampled newly woven fabric in water to thicken it (hense where Walker comes from) and then the name eventually evolved into the name MacNucator. So...theres a lot of places where my last name has a big fat question mark next to it. Obviously Walker is an English word since its an occupation. Same as Smith, Shepherd, etc. But since my Walkers were not English, this tells me that our last name, up the family tree, was something else since it was obviously changed at one point to the English version. Most MacNucators now say that Walkers were once MacNucators.

OF COURSE, however, I am back to square one in terms of clan affiliation since neither Walker nor MacNucator have clans. haha. My only hope for a clan is to see if we were ever MacGregors.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Outside of Scotland there is a tendency for some of the diaspora to wear more than one tartan because of ancestral links to multiple clans. While pride of ancestry is a particularly "Scottish" thing the wearing of more than one clan tartan by those Scots living in Scotland is practically unheard of.

Because clan affiliation goes back to the unique form of Highland tribal-feudalism which came to be largely based on surname and a commonly held belief that all of that surname were descended from a common ancestor, the concept arose that members of a "clan" all wore the same tartan; if that "clan" was part of a larger confederation (Campbells, or MacDonalds, or Clan Chattan, etc.) then the clan folk wore the tartan associated with their branch of the clan to the general exclusion of all other branches, and certainly to the exclusion of the tartan of any clan not part of that confederation, even though their Mother or some distant grannie came from "outside" the clan. Thus there was never any confusion as to someone's clan, which was probably a good thing in the rough and tumble days of Scotland's tumultuous past.

Today most Scots at home or abroad are able to claim ties to a jumble of different clans, even though they would, if they could be bothered, identify themselves as members of only one clan (usually their father's clan, or barring that, their Mothers). The difficulty seems to arise for the diaspora when someone has a clearly non-Scottish surname (Gomez) but a plethora of Scottish ancestors. The question that immediately arises is: "what's my clan"? And the general answer seems to be: "All of them!"

Well, not quite.

The correct answer should be "the clan to which I am most closely related, to the exclusion of all others." To avoid any confusion, because surnames have become inexorably linked to clan tartans, it would probably a good idea for our Mr. Gomez be officially "adopted" into the clan by its Chief with all the "rights, privileges and obligations pertaining thereto as if a clansman born". And who knows, but with passage of time and a sufficient number of off-spring, the Gomez family could establish itself as a recognized sept of its adopted clan.

And what about the other clans that Mr. Gomez may have a link to? Well, they become part of his family history, along with the ancestors who were a pirate, or survived the sinking of the Lusitania, or was a sword swallower with the circus. Something to be embraced, but certainly not cause for Mr. Gomez to go around with a parrot on his shoulder, wearing a life jacket, and with a sword clutched between his teeth. The same applies in much the same way to more distant multiple clan links: these links should not be seen as a reason to wear the tartan of a variety of different clans.

The general custom is "one man, one clan, one tartan", even if it means foregoing the parrot perched on your shoulder.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I see. Thats a great example.

In my case, I am a Walker which was a common alias name for MacGregors. I know being a Walker does not mean I am a MacGregor unless I can find a MacGregor in my tree somewhere. However, Walker is both a Scottish and an English last name and my Walkers are Scottish, not English. My great-great grandfather, James Walker, was from Scotland. I have been searchnig long and hard to trace him further back and to absolutely no avail. He seems to have just disappeared from history and all I have is his name on a death certificate.

Walker is an anglicized occupational last name used in England and in the Grampian region of Scotland. It also stems from the Gaelic term "Mac an fhucadair" or "son of a fuller" since a fuller was someone who trampled newly woven fabric in water to thicken it (hense where Walker comes from) and then the name eventually evolved into the name MacNucator. So...theres a lot of places where my last name has a big fat question mark next to it. Obviously Walker is an English word since its an occupation. Same as Smith, Shepherd, etc. But since my Walkers were not English, this tells me that our last name, up the family tree, was something else since it was obviously changed at one point to the English version. Most MacNucators now say that Walkers were once MacNucators.

OF COURSE, however, I am back to square one in terms of clan affiliation since neither Walker nor MacNucator have clans. haha. My only hope for a clan is to see if we were ever MacGregors.

Walker is also a recognized sept of Clan MacMillan. Somerled MacMillan gives a very full account of this sept in his book, "The MacMillans and Their Septs", published in 1952. PM me you address and I'll send you a copy of the relevant pages.
MoR

[unixken]

Outside of Scotland there is a tendency for some of the diaspora to wear more than one tartan because of ancestral links to multiple clans. While pride of ancestry is a particularly "Scottish" thing the wearing of more than one clan tartan by those Scots living in Scotland is practically unheard of.

:: snipped for brevity ::

And what about the other clans that Mr. Gomez may have a link to? Well, they become part of his family history, along with the ancestors who were a pirate, or survived the sinking of the Lusitania, or was a sword swallower with the circus. Something to be embraced, but certainly not cause for Mr. Gomez to go around with a parrot on his shoulder, wearing a life jacket, and with a sword clutched between his teeth. The same applies in much the same way these distant clan links: they should not be seen as a reason to wear the tartan of multiple clans.

The general custom is "one man, one clan, one tartan", even if it means foregoing the parrot perched on your shoulder.

This, sir, is wonderfully stated. Thanks for this additional info.