The Nesbitt/Nisbet tartan is of recent origin: tartans have a long history in the Highlands of Scotland but are a 19th century introduction to the Lowlands. Similarly, the link between a tartan and a clan is a recent, 19th century innovation. Before then, Highland tartans had, at the most, regional associations.

Tartans were devised by Scottish outfitters; the Nesbitt tartan is the same as that of the (entirely unrelated) tartan that appears in the Vestiarium Scoticum (1842) as Mackintosh. It also resembles that of the closely related Dunbar family.

While the early history of the Nesbitt tartan is uncertain, by 1941 it was illustrated in R. C. Nesbitt’s Nisbet of that Ilk.