This site is a plain-English reference for Americans with Scottish roots. Millions of people in the United States descend from Scottish emigrants, and most of them run into the same three questions: how do I actually trace my family back to Scotland, is there really a tartan for my surname, and what do all the clan symbols mean?
The guides here answer those questions using official Scottish sources — the ScotlandsPeople records platform run by National Records of Scotland, the Scottish Register of Tartans, and the Court of the Lord Lyon, Scotland's heraldic authority. Where a question needs an official answer, we point you to the office that gives it rather than repeating folklore.
Start with the Scottish Ancestry Readiness Check — a short self-assessment that tells you whether you have enough information gathered on the American side to make a search of Scottish records productive, and what to collect first if you don't. Records searches go far better when you arrive with a name, a rough date, and a place; the checklist walks you through exactly that.
From there, the guides cover getting started with Scottish records from the U.S., checking whether a tartan is registered, who may use clan crests and coats of arms, and what National Tartan Day is.