Tartan Ferret

Search by Surname

Surname

Enter the surname that you're looking for. If it's in the surname database the system will give whatever tartan or tartans are recommended for that name. If the name starts with Mc or Mac - type in Mac first since that's the most popular way of spelling it.

If you're not sure of the exact spelling of the surname then just type in the first few letters that you do know and click Find That'll produce a much larger choice but there's a greater chance that the one you want will be amongst them. You should note that there is not a tartan for every surname in existence so don't be too disappointed if a search doesn't produce anything. There are no laws governing what tartan you can wear although most people like to feel they have some historical or 'genetic' link with what they choose.

If you have no tartan of your own you could wear any of the available district tartans that might represent an area of Scotland that is relevant to you or an area closer to your home - a country, state, province or city - or you could choose one of what are called Universal tartans such as the Black Watch, Caledonia, Jacobite, Royal Stewart etc. Or you could wear an appropriate one from amongst the very many hundreds designed for corporate companies, military organisations, educational establishments and special interest groups.

Search by Colour

Colour

This is an extremely useful function if you're trying to identify a tartan. Just start at any point in the tartan and make a note of the colours in the order in which they appear - perhaps make a note of half a dozen to start with. Then click Search and see what appears!

You can choose the colours either by clicking on the colour boxes provided or typing in one of the colour codes which are as follows: Blue - B. Red - R. Yellow or Gold - Y. Green - G. Orange - O. White - W. Purple - P. The only odd ones are Black which is K. Grey which is N (for Neutral) and Brown which is T (for tan).

The search system doesn't need to differentiate between shades of colours so if you had a tartan with medium blue, light blue medium blue, dark blue in that sequence you would type in BBBB.

Sometimes you may come across a colour in a tartan that you can't easily identify. If that occurs, you can use the very powerful wild card of the question mark - ? Just type that in place of the unknown colour. You can experiment with a tartan that you know to see how many colours you can replace with the ? before the choice offered to you is too large to handle.

The more colours you type in, the more specific is your search. Equally, the less you type in, the greater the choice the system will offer you. As an example, if you type in R you would get almost 3,000 tartans. If you type in RB you would get 1200. RBK would give you 298. RBKW gives 26. RBKWG produces 4 which is telling you that out of some 4,300 tartans in the database there are only 4 which contain a colour sequence of Red, Blue, Black, White and Green.

If you have problems deciding what colour is next in the sequence, it might help if you read the following. Tartans are composed of lines and bands of colour that cross each other at right angles. It's an irrefutable fact that solid colours are created only where the same coloured lines or bands cross each other. Where they cross another colour, they produce a shade made up of the two.

It's that characteristic that gives tartan its unique visual appeal. It's also a rule that solid colours can only touch each other at the corners - look at any tartan and you'll see what we mean. So if identifying the next colour is a problem, look diagonally to find what solid colour comes next and you'll have solved the quandary.

IMPORTANT NOTES

Caveat Emptor. Tartan research has never been an exact science and even though the Tartan Ferret uses the most authoritative source in the world - the STA's International Tartan Index - there are bound to be errors and omissions. If you come across such or you can provide further information on a tartan to enhance the historical record, please do contact us We must also point out that reliance on any information supplied on tartans in the ITI is, in line with our Terms & Conditions, entirely at your own risk.

Colours. Wherever possible we endeavour to get as close as our colour palette allows, to the original colours of a tartan - if indeed we know them. It must be borne in mind however that colour shades differ between weavers and there is not necessarily a correct set of colours for any tartan. In some cases we also deliberately lighten colours to allow the sett to be clearly seen.

TARTAN CATEGORIES

In some instances where there is insufficient space for the full suffix, you will see various abbreviations for that suffix. Where you see a ? after the suffix indicates that the allocated category may be in douibt.

Clan Tartans. The vast majority of (Clan) tartans are available for anyone to weave, buy and wear . . . BUT . . . not all such tartans are actually available off-the-shelf from weavers. Many of them are for small clans/families where demand is insufficient to justify anyone holding a stock. Such tartans may have to specially woven. To check - look at our new WWW? facility (Who Weaves What?) which will be appearing online soon.

Name Tartans. (Name) tartans are new designs by individuals for usually for themselves and anyone else of the same name or its spelling variations. You are extremely unlikely to find anyone with a stock holding of such tartans and they will need to be specially woven. You should also bear in mind that there is very little chance of there being any historical provenance to such tartans or connections with your branch of that family name. In time however, and with sufficient usage, such tartans may become accepted as Clan/Family tartans.

District Tartans. Tartans with (District) after the name are for geographical areas ranging from small dwellings, to towns, cities, counties, states, provinces, regions and countries! In practical terms they are available for anyone to wear although most people will wear such because of a personal connection with that area. They are often used when individuals can find no relevant tartan to wear from any of the other categories. A limited number of traditional and popular ones are usually available off-the-shelf but many will need to be woven or sourced from the copyright holder in the area concerned.

Personal Tartans. Any tartans with (Personal) after the name are just that . . . personal and private tartans for the use of the named individual and are not available for wear or use by anyone else. So please . . . don't waste your time - or anyone else's - trying to track down the owner to seek permission. Even if you see them being offered by some vendors, dont believe them!

Fashion Tartans. Similarly - any tartans with (Fashion) after the name are not available for general use unless the notes specifically say so. They belong or have belonged to a commercial company who own the copyright. If a tartan has your surname, then the chances are it's just coincidence and its choice was a marketing decision.

Corporate Tartans. The same applies to (Corporate) tartans - they belong to business organisations or distinct groupings of people with specific interests and are very definitely not available to members of the public.

Military. Self explanatory.

Universal tartans. There are a small number of tartans marked (Universal) and these are for use by anyone - usually those who can't identify any other tartan which they feel entitled to wear. Such tartans include the Black Watch, Royal Stewart, Hunting Stewart to name just a few.

Artefact. Where a thread count has been obtained from a fragment of cloth or an article of clothing.

Portrait. Where a thread count has been obtained from a portrait or photograph.

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Tartan Ferret

Tartan Ferret

Tartan Ferret

Tartan Ferret

IMPORTANT NOTES

TARTAN CATEGORIES

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