Though the Lord Lyon has opened his registers to chiefs who wish to place their tartan upon record, no juridical power similar to his heraldic jurisdiction is attached to this action. Likewise, the recording of a tartan by the Scottish Tartans Authority, the Scottish Tartans World Register , or the former Scottish Tartan Society is more in the nature of a catalogue of tartans currently in use. The Scottish Register of Tartans , from early 2009, has taken over the function of registering tartans. This having been said, we should nonetheless note that some tartans are more appropriate, or meaningful, than others.
As a sept of Clan Davidson, those who carry the surname of Davis could choose to wear one of that clan's tartans: either the Davidson Clan tartan (number 1332 in the International Tartan Index of the Scottish Tartans Authority ), the Davidson Double tartan [ITI number 444], or the Half Davidson [ITI number 1076]. And since the Clan Davidson is a constituent clan of Clan Chattan, they could equally well choose to wear the brighter Chattan tartan [ITI number 1625].
Of more recent vintage, there is also the Davis tartan [ ITI number 5770].
The choices, however, do not end there. Depending upon one's place of birth or residence, one may choose from one of the many district tartans. Tartans exist for the Canadian provinces (for example the Manitoba Provincial tartan [ITI number 144]), several states of the United States (Texas, for instance,has the Texas Bluebonnet tartan [ITI number 852]),
as well as national tartans for Scotland (the Flower of Scotland tartan [ITI number 2059]), Canada (the Maple Leaf tartan [ITI number 2034]), and the United States of America (the American tartan [ITI number 464]).