Tlingit Clans - Clans

Clans

In the list below the Tlingit name of the clan is not given with its primary crest in parentheses, followed by the various kwáan (region or village) in which they are found. Known houses are listed beneath each clan. It is a matrilineal system; children are born to the mother's clan and gain their status within her family, including what was traditionally hereditary leadership positions. The parents are required to be from differing clans; the children are born from the father, but he has a lesser role in their rearing than does the mother's brothers.

Not all clans listed below are extant today; some have been absorbed into other clans; others have died out due to the lack of female descendants, and a few have been lost to history. Not all the clans listed may be independent, since clans formed in a long and fluid process. For instance, the Kak'weidí descend from the Deisheetaan. Some members claim that they are a "house" within the Deisheetaan clan; others claim that they are a small but fully independent tan.