Pretty Scottish girls names

[Divgirl2]

We gave DS a very Scottish name with a Gaelic spelling (Ruairidh) which I still love, and which he suits. Now I'm completely stuck for Scottish girls names. DH is adamant that it be a Scottish name.

I'm really struggling to find Scottish girls names that sound pretty and elegant. They all either feel really harsh or quite chavvy. Any ideas?

“Mhairi (pronounced Varry though rather than with an M sound)”

That’s the vocative case of Mairi, the person you’re talking to is called Mairi, but to make it clear you’re talking to them? It’s Mhairi which changes the pronunciation.... but their name should still be Mairi.

“Seonaid (Shona)” that d isn’t silent.

Seonaid (Shona)” that d isn’t silent.

Well it has been in every Seonaid I've ever met

the more "proper" way is Cat ree ona

It really isn't.

Catriona
Eilidh
Mairi
Morven
Shona
Rowan - pronounced row as in "cow "-an

We had the same problem OP. I'm Scottish and DP is English but wanted to give DD a Scottish name.

We now have a Kirsty (shortened from Kirsten).

“Well it has been in every Seonaid I've ever met”

I’d assume they were shortening it tbh, because a d is never silent in Gaelic and that’s not how I’ve ever known a Seonaid to prounounce it... the difference in the vowel sound could be an accent thing, but d just isn’t silent.

It’s more like shawnidj usually.

We now have a Kirsty (shortened from Kirsten).

Kirsten is lovely. :-)

With Catriona, I would say it Ca trio na (and if you say it quickly it sounds very like/the same Katrina) .... it's the Catri Owner pronunciation that sounds wrong (where I'm from).

Thanks frog

I've always loved Eilidh...

Family friends in Scotland have Orla, Heather, Isla, Eilidh and Jenna.

Thank you @mesmeri , Catriona is my middle name and the way you've spelt it out is like I was brought up to say it. Hard to describe phonetically but Cat ree yunu is about right.

Isobel is the Scottish variant of Isabel/Isabelle apparently

I love the name jura!! But just love all Scottish isle names like

Jura
Isla
Skye
Harris
Arran

Arran is for whenever I have a big and I really wanted jura for my current pregnancy which is a girl but daddy doesn't like it. I also know a little girl called Aryn which is nice too!

Ishbel

Another vote for Marsaili.

I have an Elspeth (live in England so people often haven't heard it). We sometimes call her Effie which I know is from Euphemia, but I like it.

Mhari. Love it!!

Re pronunciation- I live in a Gaelic speaking area, and here it is:

Catriona = Catr-REE-uh (almost inaudible)-na or (more often) Cat-REEH-nuh

Floraidh = Flor -ih

Marsaili = Mar-shall-ihh

Sine = Sheen -ah

Shona = Shown -agh

Seonaid = SHONN-ige or SHONN-idtch (It's 'Janet' with a very Gaelic accent)

As others have said, Mairi (Mahrr-ee) as a given name, Mhairi (Varry)when talking to.

Eilidh = Ellie with a Gaelic accent (ie a version of Helen or Ellen)

Harris, Arran (and Lewis) are 100% (modern) male names. Not for girls. Even trendily or ironically.

Ealasaid. Liusaidh. Niamh (apparently Scottish Gaelic as well as Irish?). Ailis. Ferelith. Agnes. Annis. Bonnie. Moira. Mirren. Una. Bethia. Alba. Arabella (Arabella was first popular in Scotland).

I've also seen Innes mentioned as unisex online, however I thought it was from Angus originally, so who knows...

You could go for more obscure names, from islands:

Vaila
Tiree
Eriska

Scotland has some lovely girls names (I'm legitimately disappointed I'm not Scottish ). Out of the ones already mentioned by pps, I love Sorcha, Marsaili, Morven, Lorna and Heather.

Fyi - Isobel rhymes with visible, so different to the iz-ah-belle pronunciation of isabel/Isabelle.

Eilidh/Ailie/ailidh- all with an "a" like in gate or ey then leee.

I've seen Ines before but that sounds like Inez or Eye-nez rather than Innes

I have a Skye but according to Mnet it's chavvy. Except I actually LIVE in Scotland where it's really not

I love Ailsa. It was nearly dd’s name, but is too similar to mine.

'Fyi - Isobel rhymes with visible, so different to the iz-ah-belle pronunciation of isabel/Isabelle.'

Not the ones I know.

Don't call a girl Jura! The island is very distinctive from the sea due to the rounded shapes of a pair of hills referred to as the paps of Jura.