Quote Originally Posted by David Dubh View Post
...if you want to wear a tartan that is of your "familly" you may have to go back to your grandparents on both sides to find a clan affiliation.
Or great-grandparents, and possibly great-great grandparents.

Which raises a question in my mind (which I'm sure has probably been asked and answered elsewhere on this forum): How many generations back may one reasonably reach to find a Scottish clan affiliation? Here's a good example from my own background. I have a great-grandmother on my father's side (his mother's mother), who was a LACKEY. That name is the Northern Irish version of the Scots name LECKIE, the name being transcribed as it sounded to the clerks doing the writing. In my geneological researches, I've found claims that all LACKEYs in (Northern) Ireland were of Scottish origin. My ancestor, William Lackey, came to the American Colonies in 1772 from Antrim, Ireland. It is reasonable to assume that if the above claim about LACKEYs in Ireland is correct, then my ancestor was himself of Scottish ancestry, if not actual parentage. LACKEY being LECKIE (or LECKY), and LECKIE being a documented name taken by those MacGregors who opted to change their name when it was proscribed, then...how great of a stretch is it for me to wear a MacGregor tartan? (And I don't mean the "stretch" of the material about my waist, which, I am thankful to say, is not TOO terribly great.)

~Ken