Clan Roots in Your Family Tree

Discovering that your family history can be traced back to Scotland is not the end of the story but can be the beginning.
Do you have a Scottish clan name? MacDonald, Gordon, Stewart, Robertson? To name but a few. If not, is your family name a sept* or sub branch of the Clan? Septs could be connected to the Clan through blood or joined with the Clan for protection, financial gain or even status.
Most Clan names are associated with a particular area. For example the MacDonald Clan (the largest of the Highland Clans) originally were from Islay. The Ogilvie, Duncan and Baxter Clans are associated with Angus and the Sinclairs from Caithness.
Because people moved to different parts of Scotland many septs are connected to several different clans and that is where family history can help you narrow down which Clan your line is with.
According to General Register of Scotland, Smith is the most common name in Scotland and has septs in both the McPherson and MacIntosh Clans. Which one is your Smith line?
Your clan association follows the father’s line and not the mother’s. So if your father was a Cameron and your mother was a MacFarlane then your clan allegiance would be to the Camerons.
If your Scottish surname is not a clan name then your choice of kilt tartan to wear would be dependent on your clan allegiance. For example: - if your name were Jamieson, you would wear the Gunn tartan, or if you were a Kelly you would sport the MacDonald tartan.
So you have established that you ancestors are from Scotland. You have found your clan allegiance and now know which tartan you should be wearing. Are you now convinced that you are 100% Scottish? Clan   Gunn descended from Vikings who came to the East Coast of Caithness in the 12th Century. Similarly Macleod, McIvar and MacDonald all descended from Norwegian Vikings. The Camerons, Frasers, Chisholms, Menzies (pronounced Mingis) and Grants are descended from the Normans and Flemish who were granted lands in the Highlands in the 14th century.
Some names allied with clan names are **:-
Clan Cameron: - Kennedy, Taylor, Martin, MacPhail
Clan Campbell: - Burns, Harris, Ure, MacKellar
Clan MacKenzie: - Kenneth, MacIver, Murchie
Clan MacGregor: - Black, Caird, Fletcher, White
Clan MacLeod: - Beaton, Lewis, Callum
Clan Forbes: - Fordyce, Michie, Bannerman
Clan Gordon: - Adamson, Aiken, Gardiner, Miles, Milne
Clan Gunn: - Henderson, Jamieson, Johnson, Robson, Wilson
Clan MacDonald: - Bowie, Beath, Hutchinson, Kelly
Clan Stewart: - Boyd, Carmichael, Livingstone, Hunter
Clan MacFarlane: - Allan, Lennox, Napier, MacCaw
Clan Robertson (believed to be the oldest clan):- Collier, Duncan, MacConachie, MacIvor, Reid, Stark
*Septs:- It is preferable to describe this as the surnames of the family and of allied and dependent families
**This is a representative list and by no means covers all clans or all surnames allied with the clans shown