Scottish clan

A Scottish clan (from Scottish Gaelicclann, literally 'children', more broadly 'kindred') is a kinship group among the Scottish people. Clans give a sense of shared heritage and descent to members, and in modern times have an official structure recognised by the Court of the Lord Lyon, which regulates Scottish heraldry and coats of arms. Most clans have their own tartan patterns, usually dating from the 19th century, which members may incorporate into kilts or other clothing.

The modern image of clans, each with their own tartan and specific land, was promulgated by the Scottish author Sir Walter Scott after influence by others. Historically, tartan designs were associated with Lowland and Highland districts whose weavers tended to produce cloth patterns favoured in those districts. By process of social evolution, it followed that the clans/families prominent in a particular district would wear the tartan of that district, and it was but a short step for that community to become identified by it.

Many clans have their own clan chief; those that do not are known as armigerous clans. Clans generally identify with geographical areas originally controlled by their founders, sometimes with an ancestral castle and clan gatherings, which form a regular part of the social scene. The most notable clan event of recent times was The Gathering 2009 in Edinburgh, which attracted at least 47,000 participants from around the world.

It is a common misconception that every bearer of a clan surname must be an agnatic descendant of the clan chief or chiefly house. This does not mean, however, that clan surnames were normally detached from kinship. Scottish clanship was organised around chiefs, chieftains, branches, kindred, lordship, clientage, and territorial dependence. The Scottish Parliament's 1587 act concerning Highland and Border clans referred to the "captains, chiefs and chieftains of all clans", the "principals of the branches of the said clans", pledges relieved by others of "the same clan or branch", and young men "sprung up in their race and clan"; it also described some followers as depending upon chiefs "by pretence of blood or place of their dwelling". Modern scholarship similarly treats both kinship and clientage as organising principles within Highland clanship. As fixed surnames spread, some tenants and followers could assume, or be given, the surname of a landlord or dominant clan despite not originally sharing kinship with him, and clan names could also be adopted for protection, favour, solidarity, or sustenance. A clan surname alone therefore does not establish agnatic descent from a chief, but the existence of surname adoption and clientage should not be taken to mean that ordinary bearers of clan surnames normally lacked kinship with the clan's wider blood-kindred.