Understanding and Researching Tartans

[OhioHogue]

Hello,

I've looked online for information about tartans and clans and it seems there is a lot of information, but it doesn't seem consistent. For my name (Clan Hog) there definitely is a number of different thoughts on the name, as well as tartans and confusing clan info.

Can someone point me in the right direction to find "true" tartan and clan information. Is there an "official" Scotland resource? How do you know if what you are researching and accepting is "true" or just a marketing gimmick to sell something? Do you know of any good books on the subject?

Any help would be great...thank you!

[Rosinish]

You don't say where in the world your family originated?

Hope this helps?

https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/qResults?searchString=hog

Most seem to be pretty recent which may narrow things down?

Annie

[Guy Etchells]

Hello,

I've looked online for information about tartans and clans and it seems there is a lot of information, but it doesn't seem consistent. For my name (Clan Hog) there definitely is a number of different thoughts on the name, as well as tartans and confusing clan info.

Can someone point me in the right direction to find "true" tartan and clan information. Is there an "official" Scotland resource? How do you know if what you are researching and accepting is "true" or just a marketing gimmick to sell something? Do you know of any good books on the subject?

Any help would be great...thank you!

It really depends what you want to know about tartans, if it is just about the modern culture of Clan tartans there are many books written on the subject but be aware in Scotland a tartan was not a mark of clan membership but more an indication that the person lived in a locality the that particular tartan was produced.
Membership of or loyalty to a clan was displayed not by a tartan but by a ribbon displayed in the bonnet.
Clan tartans as known today rarely go back beyond the 18th century.
Cheers
Guy

[RJ_Paton]

This article by Dr Bruce Durie re Clans may be of interest.

http://www.scotclans.com/what-is-a-clan-by-dr-bruce-durie/

tartans, although in some cases ancient, did not have the one-to-one relationship to surnames as is now affirmed, until the early 19th Century.

As Guy has stated Tartan (and all Highland garb) was proscribed in the late 1740's following the Jacobite Rebellion and the Battle of Culloden. This ban was not really lifted until some time around 1820 and a Royal visit to Scotland. After this many things Scottish, including tartan, became  "fashionable" and the drive was on to produce individual and relatively unique products - the Tartan Industry was born.