Clan MacMillan

[jbaker42j]

Tough decisions!!! Do you go with the Ancient MacMillan or MacMillan Hunting? I think Im going to put the MacMillan Hunting Old Colors on my wish list. How would it look best pleated? And I need to find a good vendor that isnt too too pricey ( Im a poor fireman, who's expecting a baby in the next month) but I would still like it to be nice.

Maybe I could start out with a special MacMillan tartan gift for my baby girl thats due!!

[Morris at Heathfield]

There is also a Baxter tartan. Its ITI number is 3664, and it is, as far as I can tell, indistinguishable from the symmetrical Buchanan variant. And there's a Baker tartan as well, but it is classed as a fashion tartan, rather than a clan/family tartan.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

The Baxter tartan is essentially the old symmetrical Buchanan tartan. Why it is also called Baxter is anyone's guess, but the association goes back to the mid nineteenth century. According to the STA notes on the tartan, "It appears in a description as Baxter in D.Macgregor Peter's Baronage of Angus & Mearns 1856. The principal branch of the clan is the Baxters of Earlshall who live at Leuchars in north Fife."

(As an aside, it is interesting to me that the Baxter name is a sept of the MacMillan clan, and that the Baxter name would be associated with this Buchanan tartan, when the MacMillan old tartan is so similar to the assymetrical Buchanan tartan -- coincidence?)

As for the Baker tartan, it was originally designed in the 1980s, according to the STA information, by West Coast Woolen Mills in Canada, which is now Fraser & Kirkbright. They say it was woven for Aljean, a Canadian clothing manufacturer. F&K reintroduced the tartan in 2002, again, according to the STA notes. So yes, this would appear to be a modern fashion tartan.

Of course, if your family is associated with the MacMillans, why not simply wear one of the recognized tartans of your clan, which are pretty readily available?

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

The Baxter tartan is essentially the old symmetrical Buchanan tartan. Why it is also called Baxter is anyone's guess, but the association goes back to the mid nineteenth century. According to the STA notes on the tartan, "It appears in a description as Baxter in D.Macgregor Peter's Baronage of Angus & Mearns 1856. The principal branch of the clan is the Baxters of Earlshall who live at Leuchars in north Fife."

(As an aside, it is interesting to me that the Baxter name is a sept of the MacMillan clan, and that the Baxter name would be associated with this Buchanan tartan, when the MacMillan old tartan is so similar to the assymetrical Buchanan tartan -- coincidence?)

As for the Baker tartan, it was originally designed in the 1980s, according to the STA information, by West Coast Woolen Mills in Canada, which is now Fraser & Kirkbright. They say it was woven for Aljean, a Canadian clothing manufacturer. F&K reintroduced the tartan in 2002, again, according to the STA notes. So yes, this would appear to be a modern fashion tartan.

Of course, if your family is associated with the MacMillans, why not simply wear one of the recognized tartans of your clan, which are pretty readily available?

Circa 1892 Donald MacMillan, kilt maker and one of the founders of the Clan MacMillan Society, patented a symmetrical version of the Ancient MacMillan tartan which he supplied as "Clan MacMillan Society" tartan. This tartan found a great deal of favour with both Baxters and Bells, which may account for it's listing under the heading of "Baxter", once the second most common name in the CMS. There is also a strong argument to be made that Buchanan may be a sept of MacMillan-- that being the case the ever resourceful Donald added a white stripe to the Clan MacMillan Society tartan for those Buchanans seeking kilts.

Interestingly it was this "Buchanan" tartan that recently appeared under the guise of a fashion tartan called "Black MacMillan"-- on the fabric sample I inspected the faint white line of the "Buchanan" was visible.

I hope this has been of some interest---

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Tough decisions!!! Do you go with the Ancient MacMillan or MacMillan Hunting? I think Im going to put the MacMillan Hunting Old Colors on my wish list. How would it look best pleated? And I need to find a good vendor that isnt too too pricey ( Im a poor fireman, who's expecting a baby in the next month) but I would still like it to be nice.

Maybe I could start out with a special MacMillan tartan gift for my baby girl thats due!!

I just made the trek into the attic, and all of my kilts are pleated to the sett-- I'm guessing this is the default pleat pattern. I think pleating to the stripe (yellow?) probably wouldn't look as nice.

I'll PM you with my thoughts about what else to get, rather than ignite another "flame war" between well dressed Scottish gentlemen and the guys in man-skirts. (Just kidding man-skirt guys )