What Clan am I from?

[danliamrod]

Hey guys, I have been searching for the past couple of months to find what clan I am from. My last name is Roddin, and the most common heritage that shows up is English for that name, but my grandfather was 100% Scottish and his father grew up in Musselburgh, Scotland and he moved over here and married a girl who was also 100% Scottish and came from Musselburgh, he actually came over when he was like 17 or 18 first and after working for a while sent money back for his family and for that girl whom he married. Well so far I have found numerous variations of the name Roddin such as: Roddin, Rodin,Rodden Roden,Rodain, Mag Rodain, Grayden, Crudden etc. But I can not find a definite clan to which my family belongs to I thought maybe the Stewart clan by stretching my name all the way to Gray which has ties with the Stewarts, but I do not want to jump to conclusions. Recently my great uncle said that we have ties with the Farquharson clan, but in all my research I can not find my name among any of the listed septs. Well if anyone has any info that would be great. I tried this post on an Irish Gaelic forum but the people there could not help me that much and said to come here. Well thanks for any info you can come up with

[Polwarth]

Hello!

There is no quick way to find out whether or not your family was part of a clan, I'm afraid! Many Scots names were never part of the clan structure - especially in the lowlands and Borders regions.

It is premature (as you have commented) to 'stretch' and try to make your name 'fit' a clan name - ie the Gray connection you mention...

Lots of English names are common in Scotland, especially in the Borders and lowland regions - and Musselburgh falls squarely into that geographical area. That is NOT to say your family wasn't Scots for many generations - but perhaps one Englishman travelled north and settled?

You seem to have very definite knowledge about your grandparent's family in Musselburgh. If you have a birth certificate for either him or your grandmother, then you could do a search at the GRO in Edinburgh. All births, deaths and marriages in Scotland are registered there. They charge for the service, but as long as you have the information to hand, it shouldn't be too expensive
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/grosw...nsf/pages/home

Good luck with your research - and you have any specific questions about the area etc, just ask. There are a number of Edinburgh and Borders people on this site (including me!)