Seosaidh or beathan or Ruairidh or harris

[Bigbadgeorge]

Scottish boys names..... I like Ruairidh and Harris, OH likes Beathan. Just come across seosaidh.

I'd never heard of Beathan. Sounds more like a girls name.....

Seosaidh is Gaelic for 'Joseph' ; Joseph is much more widely used nowadays. There were no babies registered with name Seosaidh in 2013 Scottish government list: www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files2/stats/popular-forenames/2013/babiesnames-2013-t4.pdf

Beathan is masculine - the feminine form is Beathag (there were no babies with either of theses name in 2013). It comes from the word for 'life'.

Ruiaridh is fairly upper-middle-class; a steady sort of classic

Harris has recently become quite popular - 270 in Scotland last year

Forgot to say - Beathan pronounced approx half-way between 'Beh-un' and 'Bay-un', with the 'eh' sound similar to the 'e' in MacBeth, NOT to the 'ee' sound in teeth.

Unless you spend all your time in Scotland, think that there might be a danger of confusion with the better-known girl's name, Bethan.

Will you be living in Scotland? If so then great, if not then your child is going to grow up wearily correcting misspellings and pronunciations. If you're not living there then maybe a Scottish middle name would be better.

Seòsaidh is quite nice, but it is Joey rather than Joseph. If you want to use the full name in Gaelic you have three spelling options: Seòsamh, Eòsaph or Iòsaph.

I really like Beathan, as well as the Scots equivalent Bean (pronounced Bay-an). Folks will always try to pronounced it as thought it were English though, so perhaps better sticking with Gaelic if that's your chosen name!

How do you pronounce Seosaidh? Is it Show-see?

More "Show-say" than "Show-see".

Thanks Jakey.

Sorry, Jakey is absolutely right - it's Joey not Joseph. I think that because I know several women - and no men - named Joey, I sort of automatically blank out Joey when it comes to men's names, and think only of Joseph, IFYSWIM

They are all lovely but I'm English and always mangle these names when I say them- so I prefer Harris. I even make katie morag sound rubbish when I say it.

bigbadgeorge, have you considered Seoras? Saw the George in your name. Slightly more commonly known name but along the lines you have mentioned above. Love Beathan too but appreciate the confusion with Bethan. I think if you explain a pronounciation to folk they generally get it right from then on tho'!

Thanks for everyone's thoughtfu replies! Yes we live in Scotland. I'm English but my OH is Scottish and seems very set on a Gaelic name. Once I realised how to pronounce Beathan I liked it BUT I do think people will pronounce it like its writen in English which sounds awful!
I really like the seoras suggestion, I'm off to suggest to my OH now.....

I'm irish living in Scotland - absolutely love Harris! Ruaridh v common here just now if that affects your decision any I'm not sure.

Ruaridh is pretty common right now but I can't help but like it!

Harris and Ruaridh are very popular where I live. I have never heard of your other two names. Think he would be forever correcting spelling and pronunciation. I have a name like that and you do get fed up of always having to spell it

I lived in Scotland for years and would have ignorantly thought that Beathan was a girls name?

Have you thought about Alasdair or Sorley? Harder for people to get wrong but still distinctively Scottish.

Alan? I love Alan

Thanks again everyone. Some great suggestions! I think we have decided! But I can't tell what we chose . Secret until the big day!