A bit like American presidents, surnames seem to matter in Scottish curling.
US politics has had the Kennedys, the Bushes and the Clintons (surely there won’t be another Trump?).
And the country which gave the world the roaring game has got the Muirheads.
Curling success is not a new phenomenon for the Highland Perthshire family but even by their impressive standards, the next few weeks will be historic.
Dad Gordon, big brother Glen and his wee sister Eve will represent Scotland at a World Championships one after the other.
Eve will be first up in the womens event in Canada next week, with Glen and Gordon to follow in the mens and seniors.
All this just a few months after the youngest of the Muirhead siblings, Thomas, curled for Scotland in the European Championships. You can see why mum, Lin, decided to belatedly give the sport a go a few years back.
Seldom has the phrase ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ been more apt.
Studying the Muirheads wouldn’t help settle the nature or nurture debate as to which plays the biggest part in the development of a successful athlete. Because Eve and Glen can put big ticks in both the genetics and parental support boxes.
“When the kids do well I claim it is in my genes,” Gordon joked. “My wife claims it is in her genes as well. It must be a combination of the two.
“She’s from Southampton. They’ve never even heard of curling down there. But Lin’s two sisters were good hockey players and Lin used to play a bit as well.
“My wife’s sister and her husband live on the Isle of Wight and they’ve always been into sailing. Eve’s two cousins are doing really well and are into some of the performance squads. It must run in both sides of the family.”
Narrow it down to curling and there’s a long line of Muirheads who have been pretty adept at it. You only have to look at the honours boards at the Dewars Centre in Perth.
“W Muirhead was my uncle, my dad’s brother,” said Gordon. “He had the same unfortunate record as myself, losing two world finals. We were so pleased when Eve managed to break the duck a few years ago and win a world final.
“I know my grandfather curled because years ago when we were leaving the family home there were old trophies, ashtrays and other things engraved with his name. He was involved with Glenfarg Curling Club. So it goes back a bit.”
Passing on your DNA is the easy bit as a sporting parent, but negotiating the supportive/pushy tightrope is where it can go horribly wrong. It didn’t go wrong in Blair Atholl.
“I remember I used to get annoyed at my father because he never ever praised me if we’d done well in a competition,” Gordon recalled. “But when you look back, he was always pushing you that bit further. I’ve seen so many kids in curling or golf ruined by pushy parents who think their kids are better than they actually are.
“I’ve always been very conscious of that. I’ve never pushed, always encouraged. I never try to bump them up.”
Combining farm work with practice and competition was an issue back in Gordon’s pomp and it’s still an issue, a more problematic one, for his son.
Glen admits he isn’t one of the great life-planners, but he’s had to get better at it.
“Living in a rural setting makes getting to a rink more difficult,” he said. “We used to have an ice rink about seven miles away at Pitlochry but that closed a good few years ago. Perth is the nearest 45 minutes away.
“It’s about finding a balance between training regularly and working at home because you have to push forward if you want to get anywhere.
“Typically curling is a farmers’ sport because they went together extremely well. You would be busy on the farm in the summer and then when the winter came round you would be quieter on the farm. That’s when everyone curled when the lochs were frozen over.
“Now I’m competing at a higher level there’s more practice and the big competitions are getting longer and longer. It means we have to get cover drafted in to fill in for me at home.
“Evening practice is what I look for but when I’m in Perth I’ll take the chance to drive down to Stirling and stay with my girlfriend Anna Sloan (a member of Eve’s team) and then practice first thing in the morning.
“It’s about maximising my time. I’m maybe not the best at planning but you have to be organised if you want to compete.”
Unprecedented junior accomplishments at domestic and world level have meant juggling a day job and a sporting career have never been required for Eve.
She’s been able to dedicate herself to curling for several years now. And it’s been dedication that has produced medal after medal.
Next week will be all about a second World Championship title but, now that the half-way point of an Olympic cycle is past, there’s no getting away from the ultimate goal.
“The Olympic gold is definitely the one,” she said.
“I can’t really complain about my career to be honest. I’ve been pretty successful, at European level especially. I think I’ve medalled at the last five European Championships.
“I’ve been World Champion. I’ve got an Olympic medal. I’ve got my four World Junior golds. I’m pushing hard for more World titles and the big one is the Olympic gold that everyone wants.
“I remember as a young kid saying I would rather win the Worlds than the Olympics because that’s the curlers’ title. But nowadays you look at it and think you would rather win the Olympics any day. Getting a bronze at the Olympics opened a lot more doors for us than winning the Worlds the same year.”
For the moment 2018 in Pyeongchang can wait. There’s a family World Championship pecking order to be sorted out.
“I guess there’s a lot of pressure on all of us,” said Eve. “In this little spell coming up it’s me who has the job to do first, then Glen, then dad. I’ve got to get some bragging rights going.”