Whats in a name vs. Blood?

[biblemonkey]

As far as I know, whether you belong to a clan depends almost entirely upon your surname (there are exceptions - people with differing surnames who offer fealty to the chief, those who owed fealty based on their geographic location, etc.) - if you were officially adopted by a McLean, and your grandfather was officially adopted into a McLean family, then you are a McLean!

Then because my father was adopted by a Ross and I am blood related to a Graham (my maternal grandmother) I could really claim either?

[Cygnus]

Then because my father was adopted by a Ross and I am blood related to a Graham (my maternal grandmother) I could really claim either?

From a historical perspective:

If your last name is Ross, the tradition would be for you to be a member of Clan Ross. If your surname is Graham, then you'd be a member of Clan Graham.

As I said, there are exceptions; if you were dissatisfied with your clan or expelled for some reason, you could offer your "fealty" to the Grahams (or any other clan, for that matter), though some of your Ross clansmen might not take very kindly to the idea of you switching allegiances like that!

[xman]

It is traditional to wear only one clan's tartans, whichever you choose to identify with. It is largely your own choice to identify with a clan. That said, you're free to wear MacLean if you like.

Interestingly, I was raised (though not formally adopted) by a member of the Anderson clan, but I wear MacDonald of Clanranald as my clan tartan. I could have gone with Anderson and likely will still wear it at some point.

[piperdbh]

Yes, Monkey, or you could claim both.


OP:
MacLeans chose you to be part of their family, as they chose your grandfather. I'd say that makes you part of the clan.

[madmacs]

If you wear the name...

and welcome from another mclean

[Meadcrafter]

Hi Cousin,

My understanding is, if you pledged allegiance to the clan and it's Chief, and you were under their protection, you were part of the clan.

There are quite a few septs within the MacLean Clan.

[Mac-Attack]

Thanks all for the support and clarification. Yes I will upload a pic of my first kilt my current pic of it is pre-wash iron and a blurry mirror shot. Will get a better one tonight. As for my 2nd, I have been looking at lots of utility type kilts and am making sketch alterations to the std X-kilt (though that is a great piece of documentation as a base!). I will post my progress and pics as it fleshes out.

[Mac-Attack]

@Joel Mimbs I'm currently a student at USF working on my PhD

[BuchananBiker]

You're a McLean in heart, that's all the "right" you need. Wear it proudly. You were adopted. That means you werent Born into the name, you were CHOSEN for the name.

What else needs be said?

[James Hood]

If memory serves, after only 20 generations (400 years), one is oft related to about 1.4 million people...northern Europe and the colonies were not too populous, back then.