Scots/Irish middle names

[Didactylos]

cultural disconnect, DP doesnt like any of the middle names Im suggesting for baby (of unknown gender, first names already agreed on)

Boy - Innes, Gillespie, Forbes
Girl - Bonnie, Blythe (old english really but bear with me) Eilis

Sadly dont really want to post the already agreed on first names as they are unique enough to out me completely, will say they are Scandinavian in origin- any thoughts or suggestions

It's hard to say which sounds best without knowing the first names but from your lists I'd plump for Gillespie and Blythe.

If you are looking for more names, there was a thread on Scottish boy's names not long ago. Scroll back to page 4.

For Scottish girl's names, as a start, there was this thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/a1726041-Pretty-Scottish-gaelic-girls-names

thanks squoosh, those are my favourites but DH is being annoying about it. The name wont be used day to day (except during that sort of telling off where you use the whole name!) but I wanted to recognise my culture and give them the option of using another name in future

Ill have a look at that thread thanks Flora

You are looking for something a bit different and Celtic and with the boys seems to be surname type names?

What about:

Boys:
Brodie
Grant
Gregor
Tiernan

Girls:
Ainsley
Greer
Lorna
Fallon

Or you could choose a name from your family tree? or a place name that's important to you?

e.g.
Blaven
Merrick
Ross
Moray
Lorne
Ailsa
Skye
Harris
etc etc

Doesn't Gillespie mean The Bishop's servant!? My mum told me that.

I really love Innes.
What about Calum?

I struggled more with girls names but like Rona, Cara and Ailsa.

Love Brodie too - can be boy or girl, especially if a middle name.

Yes it does -- 'giolla easpaigh' (gyul' aspih) = the bishop's servant, anglicised it turns into Gillespie.

Would Gilles work rather than Gillespie? I know several (my dc go to a Gaelic speaking school).

Other ones?
Seamus
Brodie
Struan
Lorn
Lewis/Leodhas
Aidan/Aodhan
Donald/Dohmall
Murdo
Malcolm/Calum

Girls?
Rowan
Eilidh
Isla
Shona/Seona
Rhona/Rona
Iona

Eilidh, but then again I'm biased as it's DDs name.

Marsaili
Fergus

I love Blythe and Bonnie.

For a boy, how about Somhairle -- pr Sorley. He was a 12th century king of Mann and the Isles, or Raghnall, the name of one of his sons..

The name Olaf/Amhlaibh features in Norse, Irish and Scottish early medieval history too.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions: its really hard isnt it!

Im amused that my name has been mentioned on the list, but the main problem I have is that a lot of names already have associations (eg that woman at work, the weird boy at school) so they get ruled out pretty automatically, (sadly)

I still think Gillespie/Blythe are my favourites but am adding Traquair, Teirnan and Sorley (though spelling/pronunciation may be awkward in his language) for a boy and Rowan and Aisling to the girls list

and then Im just going to tell him what the name is as soon as I see what the baby looks like - this happened last time too, he shot down all my suggestions until the child turned up and then made a last minute conversion to my way of thinking

I would love Bonnie and Blythe for girl twins if I was ever so fortunate (Sad, I know)

Early records spell Somhairle 'Somerled' - gaelicised to 'Somhairle'

As Maths says, Somerled was the form of the name that appeared in early documents. The original name was Old Norse, meaning 'summer wanderer' ie probably Viking raider. It's written here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerled

Recent scientists claim to have proved that that Somerled was of part-Viking ancestry: www.scotsman.com/news/sci-tech/dna-shows-celtic-hero-somerled-s-viking-roots-1-709181

The name later became used in a Gaelic version: Somhairle (say: Sor-lee).

So you have a choice: the Viking version or the Gaelic one!