Scottish Names

Congratulations.

Here are my family names

Gregor (DS)
Ramsey (DN)
Struan (DN)

If DD had been a DS she would have been Keir or Moray

Love Isla and Ailsa for girls

My children are Scottish and all have Gaelic or Scottish names.

Well, this one that we're expecting in October is a boy and he will be called Struan.

Aha, so I am not alone! I think if I was Scottish, the last person I would turn to for help with names would be an English person, but that's the joy of Mumsnet...

Nancy here too Lady T

I too spent my entire life telling people how to spell my name - and it wasn't Scottish!

Which is why, as the lone Sassenach on this thread, I have picked names that us Nancies can pronounce!

Pronunciation is I think a major factor to consider. I write as someone who has one of the Scottish names that's been mentioned a few times - I like the way my name looks and sounds, but I've always hated the way that 9 out of 10 people pronounce it wrong the first time they see it written. It means that my first conversation with just about everyone in a formal context involves explaining how to say my name, reassuring them that they haven't got the spelling wrong, and so on and tediously on.

Your DC might not spend their whole lives in Scotland, so it's worth considering whether you'll be adding an extra complication to their lives by saddling them with a name that always needs to be explained.

In any case, I've found that even Scottish people don't always pronounce my name the way I do - it varies depending on which bit of Scotland they're from - so what hope for the English!

I have a Caitlin, an Eilish, a Calum and a Euan. The older three have "English" middle names but Euan's middle name is Hamish.

Eilish does have a few issues re. her name but they are generally because of the pronounciation rather than the spelling (we say eye-lish, most people say ay-lish).

oh congrats

These might be repeats but:

Mackenzie
Kenneth
Douglas
Duncan - oops no there's an N at the end..
Donald
Finlay/Finley
Hamish
Malcolm ( currently trendy )
Fraser
Ross
Mason - another N though
Lewis or Arran after the Isles
Cameron - N again
Alexander
Alastair

Murdo
Hamish
Arran
Stuart
Fraser
Monteith
Fife/Fyffe - like the bananas!
Douglas
Campbell
Murray

scots families trend, i think, to use mothers maiden names as middle names, so a lot of surnames have passed into first names IYSWIM

glad you're ok!

I think there are loads of ways to spell Alistair, some more traditional than others. It is my DP's name actually!

What about

Adair (I think this is nice. Interesting without being pretentious)
Dougal (you can still call him Dougie)
Hamish
Ramsay
Donald (not everyone's cup of tea but I knew a foxyone at school)

My DD is Mairi- pronounced "mah-ree"- I too was tempted by Mhairi but very little hope of it ever being pronounced correctly.

For girls I also love Lorna, Ailsa, Eilidh, Iona, Innis & Shona (which is Irish but common Scotland too).

For boys were were thinking of Arran, Lewis, Alasdair, Glynn, Rowan, Rhuari

oops just read more of thread, realised you're having a boy so ignore first bit of message! Many congrats

Calum.

I know it's not purely Scottish - but it is a common name in Scotland - and one I like: Alexander (shortened to Alex)

Thought of some more

Alistair (or Alasdair or some variant thereof)
Montgomery
Gavin
Fergus
Douglas (Dougie is so cute)

Congratulations Scotia. What about Angus? I think it's really nice. But I am English! Maybe it's too popular but I think it's a cool name.

I was talking to a Mairi from work last week: she was saying for her spelling, it would only be pronounced "Vahrie" in the vocative - which we don't use in English.

Harris
Lewis
Fergus
Ainsley
Gregor

Isla
Iona
Skye
Allana
Aileen

Sorry I did not intend to turn the thread into a sectarian fight, names and religion just don?t wash with me as I have found in the past you cannot go by a name and not would I want anyone to think I was one religion or another by then name they have been given by their parents

I'm not commenting on anyone's religion - for the record I have none myself (and my dh, although brought up catholic, has none either). I don't give a hoot what anyone's religion is - all i was doing was agreeing that double-barrlled names as described are, as described, statistically, frequently catholic in this part of the world.

I'm not sure where Kevin comes into this - I hadn't noticed it being mentioned as a name.

I work with a catholic who is a rabid fervent Rangers supporter. My boss is a Celtic supporter. My ds is allowed to support any tem excpet Rangers or Celtic (even though he secretly supports celtic as his freinds at school do) - so he supports Queens Park.

I too hate the sectarianism of the West of Scotland and dh and I tried (and failed) to get ds interetested in rugby before he got infected with football - but the football culture is too strong in the primary schools.

Oh so all Kevins are Catholics then ?
Being Scottish and NOT Catholic and having a son named Kevin just reminds me why I hate the politics of Glasgow.
Does it really matter what religion anyone is, I also have a brother~in~law who is catholic and supports glasgow rangers.

fin54 - not really rediculous. pretty is right, the names on the list are relatively common in Glasgow.

It's like once upon a time the north Highland/island, the custom was to call girl children a man's name with "ina" at the end, so you could usually surmise a person called, say, Donaldina, Kennethina (yes really, I have great aunts called that) were from Sutherland or somewhere. names can be regional as well as "national" if you like.

We have in our Scottish Family

Bruce
Robert
Denholm
Grant
Glen
Alexander
McKenzie

Jean
Margaret
Hay
Shona
Murren
Kirsty
Skye