Does anyone know where to find Irish family plaids??

Question

I want to get a tattoo of the family plaid, but I can't seem to find it anywhere? Can anyone tell me of a good website or book to find it in?

Answer 1

Very few families have tartans in Ireland.  Many are migrants from Scotland.  Most of those listed on the site below are either migrant names from Scotland or 'adopted' tartans (ex Finniegan doesn't have a tartan but 'adopted' one.  Same with Ireland, they don't have an official Irish Tartan)

http://www.doyle.com.au/tartan_irish.htm

Answer 2

The only plaids or tartans in Ireland are associated with those clan families that were deported there from the Scots/English Borders in the 1606-09 time period. Most all were settled in Ulster and are known today as Ulster Scots who also still speak the Scots dialect.

Answer 3

I am far from an official source but this is what I've learned:  

By plaid I am assuming you are referring to tartan (both are technically correct but tartan is in much more common usage when you are referring to the pattern in a historical or heritage vein).  Scotland and Ireland both have tartans.  Traditionally the tartans are identified only with families (or clans) in Scotland.  In Ireland the tartan is connected to the county the family hails from.  A good clear color chart of the Irish county tartans can be found here:  http://www.scottishkilts.net/irish_count...   That being said anyone can register a tartan for their family, company, group, product (think scotch tape plaid- it's registered), whatever.  It only requires that it's unique from existing registered tartans.  Scotland is in the process of creating an official registery, but as of yet, it's still spread out among several private industry registers.  Ireland does have an official registry, so you will even find many of the traditionally Scottish tartans registered to 'reserve' their weave.  I am assuming you are looking for the "traditional" tartan attached to your family.  At some point someone may have registered a tartan connected with your family name... but if you're Irish, it's just as likely to be from 1970 instead of 1670.  The most traditional will be the county that your family was connected to.  Even if you are Scottish, it was only the Highland Scots who formed clans and thus had a tartan connected to them.  These tartans were even outlawed by the conquering British for a time because of the clan loyalty and thus rebellion they inspired.  However that only served to strengthen their hold and even popularize them.  With the popularity more and more people wanted tartans; so more were created and has continued ever since.  

As far as the "historical" Irish tartans, well that's even less straight forward.  The Highland Scots- original users of the tartan's having a specific affiliation- are thought to have migrated back and forth from Ireland so it theorized the Irish tartans came into general usage, abet tied to a location versus a clan... but I have also seen this refuted just as often and the academic evidence is pretty strong for there being no historical Irish tartans in the same sense.

So to sum it up (since it is a tattoo) you need to decide for yourself which tartan will fulfill your need.  The general consensus seems to be that wearing any tartan (with the exception of the Balmoral tartan which is reserved for the British Royal family and perhaps some of the trademarked tartans- for legal not ethical reasons) you are welcome to wear any tartan you feel an affection for... I would almost equate it to wearing a College sweatshirt.  If you are walking around wearing a U of M shirt, people will ask out of curiosity the connection but you don't have to be a student/alumnae to have the 'right'.  I have found this to be true in the very Internationally mixed expatriate communities we've been a part of from the very Scottish Robert Burns nights to the Irish Balls.

There was a really good .pdf  written about Tartans on one of the Scottish Registers and the author even discussed the Irish tartans.  I don't remember exactly where I downloaded the booklet but this is the site:  http://www.tartansauthority.com   and it contains several really good FAQs and history of the tartans.

Answer 4

why bother when tartan really isn't used in ireland at all? means absolutely nothing here. . . Your family crest might be a better place to look - my one is really cool with a wild boar and "The strong hand of justice" written under it. Who knows what your might have? certainly more interesting than a piece of tartan.Have a look at www.irishsurnames.com