Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Scottish Baby Names

35 replies

KL2021 · 09/02/2021 14:29

Hi Guys :)

Just looking for some help on choosing a baby name! We do not know gender so coming up for both and ideally would love for it to be a Scottish name!

Any suggestions much appreciated :)

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
FeistySheep · 16/03/2021 08:21

@NamechangeTTC is it a girl?

I think these are easy to say:

Màiri/Mairi
Catrìona
Iseabail
Caitlin (never actually met anyone with this name!)
Lilidh
Morag/Mòrag
Sìne

Or to please both languages, how about Anna!! Maybe with a more obviously Gaelic middle name?

FeistySheep · 16/03/2021 08:22

Do you stay in the NW at the moment, or are you moving back? Just thinking that if you're not living in a Gaelic speaking area, your child might get annoyed by names like Ceitidh and Lilidh which sound just like Katie and Lily, as they'll always have to correct people's spelling. Maybe it's better to go for a name that doesn't sound exactly like the English?

NamechangeTTC · 16/03/2021 10:01

@FeistySheep we’re near Glasgow so not within a native speaking area unfortunately. Love Lilidh but have a lily in the cousins already.

No idea on gender but we’ve got a male one we’re happy with. Girls have become more of an issue!

NamechangeTTC · 16/03/2021 10:06

Thanks for the màiri suggestion, hadn’t considered it due to the influx of Mhairi which annoys my mum due to then incorrectness of it!!

Too near paisley for Mirren also

florascotia2 · 16/03/2021 10:18

Fiesty Sheep has some good ideas.

If you like place names such as Ailsa (which is pretty) there is also Iona, Shona, Rona and Vaila, Eriska (all islands; the last two Norse in origin rather than Gaelic). There is also Lorna (said to have been invented by novelist RD Blackmoore for 'Lorna Doone', and based on the place name Lorne, in Argyll). And Morven.

Nothing to frighten the horses with these:

Ailis (sometimes also spelled Ailish/Eilish )
Mairead
Kirsty (Gaelic = Ciorstaidh)
Fiona isn't Gaelic but was very popular in the West a couple of generations ago
Fenella /Finella (version of Gaelic Fionnuala)
Flora (Gaelic Floraidh, pronouced Florreeh)
Marsaili as suggested by previous poster: MARH-sah-lih
Annag (the 'g' is more like a soft 'kh') = Annie
Davina (originally Davidina) was used in the past in Gaelic-speaking areas; similarly Andrina, Malina and several others based on male names)
Maura (English-language version of Irish Maire)
Senga (but use with care; it's sometimes said to be 'agnes' backwards, and used to describe a female 'Ned', but is more likely to come from a Gaelic word meaning slender.)

Mirren/Merren (Scots)
Elspeth (Scots)
Ishbel (Scots)
Greer (Scots surname)
Grizel (Scots - looks grim but when said nicely, it's pretty: Grih-SELLE); Annabel/Amabel was originally Scots
Marion (Scots, from French): like Fiona, was popular a couple of generations ago

sipsmith1 · 16/03/2021 10:20

We’ve called out little girl Elspeth

NamechangeTTC · 16/03/2021 10:53

Thanks @florascotia2

Had considered a lot of these but it’s challenging as we know so many!

Fiona - best pal
Marsaili - work colleague
Flora- “too like butter” and also a family friend!!
Kirsty - bullied relentlessly by one of these

Would ailis be pronounced Alice?

florascotia2 · 16/03/2021 11:20

OP Yes, Ailis is very much like Alice. Pronounced on the 'official' learn Gaelic website here: learngaelic.scot/fichead-facal/ff-names-girls.jsp?

There seem to be far fewer Scottish female names, compared with male. ..

florascotia2 · 16/03/2021 12:01

One name that is popular among older Gaelic-speaking ladies that I know is Chrissie. Officially, that is Christina (Gaelic =Cairistiona), but they hardly ever use their full name, though it's rather pretty.

Johann is a old Scots version of an international name (Joan, Joanne) that's not used much these days.

In fact many 'international' names have been used for Scottish women for centuries. These sites listing names used in Scotland from 16th cent are mainly Scots, rather than Gaelic:
heraldry.sca.org/names/scottishfem.html
medievalscotland.org/scotnames/lowland16/womenalpha.shtml
If you have time to spare, this site is interesting:
www.s-gabriel.org/names/scottish.shtml

Text of talk here:
cscs.academicblogs.co.uk/personal-names-and-naming-practices-in-medieval-and-early-modern-scotland-with-dr-matthew-hammond/

If you go really far back, there are a few genuinely Gaelic-origin names - a couple of modernised examples would be Ferelith (sounds vaguely like 'Verily'), or Dervla (like the famous Irish travel/explorer writer) - but perhaps that's going too far. I like Ferelith, however.

The trouble is, for very old names, few women's names were recorded in documents, because mostly the men had the land/money/power.

bakingdemon · 16/03/2021 12:06

Duncan
Hector
David
Alistair
Colin
Sandy (for Alexander)
Andrew
Alec

Ishbel
Elspeth
Flora

New posts on this thread. Refresh page