Clan question

[MacleodOf.Lewis]

to be a clan member do you have to go through a process or can you just say your a clan member evan if your family has a clan/tartan

[Duthill]

A Clan is a family . If you are born into it , you are already in .

clan societies are different .

[MacleodOf.Lewis]

i ment people like us our ancestors leave the country hardly speak of the clan sort of thing?

[Duthill]

Yes mate , we are still members of our clans .
Hopping on a boat or plane does not change our DNA.

The father of my clan Chief , and his grandad and his great uncle (also chief) were born here in NZ.

Many clan chiefs were born and live in other parts of the world .

[brandon ray]

A clan is a type of family but the societies are different but we are still member of our clan.

[Auld Chiel]

If your name is MacLeod, then you are a member of the MacLeod clan. Clan membership is dependant upon the surname, which is why the late chief of the Clan MacLeod, who was born as John Wolrige-Gordon, had to assume the maiden name of his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Hubert Walter (nee MacLeod) in order to become chief of the MacLeod clan.

[Lianachan]

Clans and all their trappings, as they are generally perceived, are a Victorian era invention for which we largely have Walter Scott to "thank".

As I said in another thread:

Given how clans were defined more by area than actual blood ties, and that families changed their surnames quite often, and even those that didn't often had their names officially changed for them by census takers/registrars/factors anyway, I wouldn't worry about it.