Scottish names - for Eilidh

[marmitecheesetoast]

DC2 is due in June, we don’t know what we’re having.

DD is Eilidh. Scottish but we are currently living in Manchester. Possibly will move back to Scotland in next few years but not certain. I would quite like DC2 to have a Scottish name too, but doesn’t have to be.

The problem is neither of us love any name as much as Eilidh! Last time I was in labour and we still hadn’t agreed any boys names so luckily DD was a girl!

Actually the one boys name I’ve always loved is Euan, but DH hates it and hasn’t been convinced over the last 3 years

So, current shortlists:

Boys:
Angus (would this be too much living in England?!)
Alasdair (I think I love how it looks written down more than how it sounds? And I know we’d always be correcting the spelling here)
Finlay (quite popular)
Fraser (would people just think of Frasier?!)
Murray

None of them compare to Euan for me.

Girls:
Flora (would people just think of the margarine?!)
Isla (so popular though)
Fiona (DH not keen)
Elspeth (DHs favourite, I like it not but sure it’s not a bit ‘lispy’)
Ishbel (probably not realistic living in England, and DH not keen)

Iona is lovely but doesn’t work with our surname

Other names we like not on the Scottish theme are
Alice
Eleanor (probably too similar to Eilidh)
Edith
Mary (but it rhymes with Eilidh so think that’s a no-go!)
Florence
Esther
Orla

Thoughts, honest opinions and suggestions most welcome!

We have in our family.

Grant
Glen
Iain
Innis
Denholm
Alexander
Malcolm

Mhari
Marsali
Masri
Maggie
Jean
Elizabeth
Senga
Morven
Skye
Jennifer
Isabella

Oh and Shona

@marmitecheesetoast
I have Eilidh and Euan!!!
Obviously my favourites!!
Other choices are Kier, Callan, Iona, Alba

Ah me and my sibling are Eilidh and Euan! My other sibling is Calum if that helps at all

@JKScot4 excellent taste!!! I just love both names so much, and think they are great together for siblings too! @bananafritters your parents obviously had great taste too
I know DH will never come round to Euan, but I can’t let it go!

I like both Kier and Callum, but also both vetoed by DH

Thanks @hurrythefuckupgeorge it is so hard isn’t it!

@Liz79 I keep coming and going on James, DH quite likes it. By my boss is James so that might be weird!

Other scottish boys names:
Ross
Andrew
Innes
Ramsay
Angus
Murray

@marmite
One of the things I like about Euan is it has no nickname, James is a family name but was a no as inevitably would be Jim, Jamie etc.
I love Alba for a girl, Kier, Callan, Lachlan for boys.

Rhona. Mhari. Bonnie.

Andrew. Cameron. Neil.

Flora, obviously ....

But seriously, and with apologies for repeating myself - I've said similar on other threads - to everyone suggesting 'Mhari', 'Vhari' etc, the 'correct' Gaelic spelling of the name is Mairi.

Pronunciation is like 'Marry'.

Mhairi is the vocative (form used when speaking to someone), not the nominative (name) form. The letters 'Mh' at the beginning are pronounced like 'V'.

Many people, even in Scotland, choose not to follow Gaelic spelling rules, and so other spellings of the name Mairi (=Mary) are in existence. That is 100% the choice of the people who decide to use those spellings, of course.

But since the rules are there, IF IF IF you want a 'properly' Gaelic name, why not follow them?

FWIW Gaelic spelling rules divide vowels into 'broad' and 'slender'.
A,O,U are bread, E&I are slender. The rules say that a consonant should have broad letters on either side or slender letters on either side, but not a mixture. So there has to be an 'i' on both sides of the letter 'r' in Mairi.

'Mhari' and similar spellings break the rules.

and to add, it's Keir not Kier.

My favourites for girls are Lorna, Shona, Mairi, Marsali and Vaila. If you want to stick with Scottish, Alison is used rather than Alice or maybe Ishbel?

For boys, I like Euan, also vetoed in my house, or Fraser, Struan, Gregor, Callum, Craig, Innes and Brodie.

@wax
Kier is also a spelling, Scottish surname originally.

yes, but the Scottish surname is spelled Keir. Kier comes from the anglicisation of Ciaran to Kieran.

This usually comes up when people say that Keira Knightley's name is miss-spelled and that it should be Kiera, but that depends on whether you are following the proper Scottish surname girls version of Keir, or the anglisised version of the female version of Ciaran...

Our friend named their girl Edith, (Eedie for nickname, I don't know how you spell it!) Their other girl is called Ingrid and 'Iggy' for nickname which is cool.

Some other Scottish names a couple of my friends have are Anders for a boy, quite unusual? And I always liked Freya for a girl... My Hub's family are Irish so I've now got a Irish surname and so am adamant I'm getting a Scottish first name :)

Nice names, but not Scottish.
Edith is AngloSaxon
Anders, Ingrid and Freya are all Scaninavian

typo - sorry:

Should be Scandinavian

Iona for a girl?

I like Fraser, I've known a couple (teacher) and no one got it muddled.

Malcolm, Douglas, Blair, Alec, Coll.

I think Fergus is nicer than Angus. Have you considered Alexander if you're worried about the spelling of Alasdair? I like Fraser too, it certainly wouldn't get muddled with Frasier up here if you do move back.

I love Flora for a girl. If we had another DD I'd be considering it. I've been coming across more girls with gaelic variations on Kate/Katie - Ceit/Ceitidh though they don't solve the issue of spellings. Morven?I quite like Una too.

How about Shona, Sheena, Cara, Morvern, Mairi, Moira for girls? I'm still planning to use Isla this year even if it is popular just now, as it's a family name. Or boys could be Lewis, Harris, Arran, Lachie/Lachlan, Robert, Ross, Stuart, Craig?

The only name I especially like from your boys choices is Fraser. And no, nobody will think Frasier.

Out of the girls, I like Isla and Iona. I have a personal hatred of Eleanor and Mary.

I am Scottish but I'm struggling to think of good alternative suggestions 😂

How about Ioan for a boy?? Most similar to Euan that I can think of. (And similar time Iona??) but welsh not Scottish.
Fleur or Fflur are french / welsh alternatives for Flora?
(Appreciate I’m missing the Scottish link, but trying to find alternatives for your faves!)

I have an Imogen, Eilidh, Emilia and Sam
I wanted a Mhairi, Ishbel Eilidh and Alexander to be known as Sandy.
I only got to give one a Scots name as they were still born so my husband wasn’t about to argue about giving them one difficult to pronounce/spell (also in England).
Sandy wasn’t Sandy cause my (stupid!) MiL said I could call her grandson a ‘girls name’. Idiot.

So I vote
Mhairi
Ishbel
Aisling

Struan
Sandy (Alexander)
James

Calum
Fraser
Innnes
Jamie

We gave up with girls names (thankfully we didn’t have any girls)