# scottish clans...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scottish-clans/27049>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 27, 2000, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scottish-clans/27049 "2000-07-27T14:17:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Phouchg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/41988e/32.png) [@Phouchg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phouchg)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scottish-clans/27049/1 "2000-07-27T14:17:33Z")

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I am helping my girlfriend with her family history. In the midst of our research I find her mother’s entire family is from Scotland. Upon further investigation, I found the clan her family is part of.

How exactly is the whole Clan system set up? How did they get started? Why are there multiple surnames as part of a clan? What is the deal with the tartans?

Any scots or scot-lovers out there who can fill in this WASP about all things scottish?

## Phouchg

“Ball, get out of my nachos!” - Biff Henderson

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scottish-clans/27049/2 "2000-07-27T14:38:20Z")

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Extracted from the _Encyclopedia Americana_ entry on **Clan**

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> Scottish clan genealogies normally trace descent through the father’s line. But on occasion an ancestress appears as a link in genealogy. A clan had an established territory, and the feelings of kinship and common residence were closely associated. The clan tartan is comparatively recent. In the 18th century the tartans of each locality were similar enough in pattern and color to differentiate them from tartans of other localities. By 1892 they were clan tartans. The modern clan tartans appear to represent chiefly tartans adopted in the 19th century as nostalgic clan symbols by Scotsmen who had become scattered all over the world.

When my mother visited Scotland, one of the tour guides told her the clans were like Mafia families, extortionists and enforcers. I can’t vouch for that, though.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scottish-clans/27049/3 "2000-07-27T21:05:53Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> When my mother visited Scotland, one of the tour guides told her the clans were like Mafia families, extortionists and enforcers. I can’t vouch for that, though.

Doesn’t seem to make sense to me… Aren’t all Scots members of some clan or another, even if they don’t maintain ties?

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**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2000, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scottish-clans/27049/4 "2000-07-27T23:21:58Z")

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A clan is similar to the Indian tribes of North America, in that they are (or were) political groups with heavy kinship ties, controlling a sometimes not-fully defined stretch of territory.

Unlike many Indian tribes, Clans usually claim descent from a single individual. Scottish clans (at least back in the day) were almost universally exogamous with regard to marriage and consider marriage within the clan tantamount to incest, whereas Indian tribes often exhibit patterned endogamy (they, after all, don’t all have the same great x20 grandpappy–or so they think).