Todd,

For the record, "Tartan For Me!" was written solely by Phil Smith. Gordon Teall was not involved. Teall and Smith co-authored the book called District Tartans , which is probably what you are thinking about.

Anyway, if the people who looked up your name recommended the Aberdeen tartan, they were probably using "Tartan For Me!" because that's about the only widely available reference that also includes district tartans.

A few points. First, this book is not an official sept name list of any sort. It is simply a list of recommended tartans for various names. Even in the cases of a clan tartan being recommended, it does not necessarily mean you are part of that clan -- the tartan could be recommended for other reasons, other types of historic connections.

When district tartans are recommended, it becomes a bit trickier, and I always tell people to do more research to see why that tartan was recommended. It could be for a number of reasons. It could be that the family once held signifigant landholdings in that area. It could be that the earliest instance of that name on record in Scotland was from that area. It could be that this is where the largest numbers of families with that name have lived, or currently lived. There could be any number of reasons.

When I get a district tartan listed in "Tartan For Me!" one of the first things I do is to go to Black's The Surnames of Scotland to see what I can find out about the name there. Sometimes the information I find gives me cause to recommend another district tartan.

In the case of the name Duke, the earliest record of the name found in Scotland (as listed in Black's) is a David Duce de Montrose, witness in Brechin, in 1490. No other really signifigant information is given that might lead one to beleive the name was more common in one area than another.

Brechin is also on the east coast, a bit farther south than Aberdeen, but perhaps Aberdeen was the closest large area with its own tartan, so it was recommended. Then again, this David Duce is said to be of Montrose, not Brechin, and is merely recorded as having been a witness in Brechin. So if I were to recommend a district tartan based on this earliest instance of the name on record, I would recommend the Montrose district tartan.

But choosing which tartan to wear can be a tricky thing. It's not nearly as straightforward as selecting a clan tartan.

Do you want to wear a tartan for the place your ancestors first owned land? Or the place that the lived in Scotland immediately before migrating? Or the place where you currently live? Or the place you were born but no longer live in? Or a place that you take your annual vacation to and just fell in love with? Or a place that you feel is historically signifigant and wish to honor? There are any number of reasons to wear a district tartan, and you needn't limit yourself to just one!

My recommendation is to research a bit more into your particular family and see what else you don't come up with.

Aye,
Matt