Scottish baby name??

[jacks1972]

Our baby is due in January, not sure if it's a boy or girl and we are struggling to agree on any name...

we have a very scottish surname and DH will only consider a scottish firstname, I don't really see why but I'll go with it for now...

Also, some of the names I like DH thinks are 'Public school' types!! Can't win!

Some names I like [scottish and non-scottish] are:

Finlay
Isaac
Seth
Hamish - maybe
Fraser - not sure

Maisie
Grace
Isobel
Eve

Any other suggestions??
Please help!

x

---------------------

Hi - this thread is a little old. If you’re looking for a Scottish baby name, find the most popular here. MNHQ

Reid, Fraser?

p.s ROFL @ dont agree names can be too scottish.unless you are called tattie bogle or mince McNeeps Scottishmummy

Ailsa was on my list for dc2 who was a boy.

Campbell
Struan
Lindsay (not quite sure if this is Scottish though)

I do quite like Henry but somehow something like Henry McTavish just sounds wrong. Henry is too English.

Lorna

Brodie would be way up there if we ever had another dc (not going to happen, dh is snipped!)

I know a Lewis Brodie - cooooooool name!

Flora seems very "old lady" to me but I had an old lady named flora over the road when I was little.

The correct Gaelic spelling for Lachlann is 2 'n's'

Also forgot Marsali (pronounced marr-say-lee). It's the Gaelic form of Marjorie, and I know 2 - one a very grown up nurse, another in primary 1! The both have amazing long white-blonde curls, though I don't think tht is compulsory!

I know some Mhairi's who are pronunced Marry instead of Varee.

Laurie/Lawrie?

I suppose you could be even more scottish and go very Gaelic

Tormond (Norman)
Domnhall (Donald, pronounced Do-all)
Murdo

What about Iain?

or do the Hebridean thing and feminise a male name?

As a secondary school teacher in the hebrides I taught: Murdina, Donalda, Donaldina, Lewisina.

Older people included Calumina, Davina, Gormelia.

(I think I am joking on this last one, tbh!)

I'm a Mhairi who's "Mary" to my Moray dad, Varree to others, Marry to others - it just seems different according to where you're from. I'd answer to pretty much anything starting with an M and ending in "ee".

Marsaili is lovely isn't it?

For boys, the whole surname as given name is traditional.
Innes
Forbes
Mackenzie
etc

V Edinburgh public school though!

Our DC have a Scottish forename and Austrian surname, from DH's grandfather. If DH had been a Scot as well then they would have had two Scottish names.

My uncles have got great names, I wish they were "fashionable" when our DS was born.

Roderick
Gregory
Lawrence

I'd go with Hamish or Angus (Gus) love the girls names Isla/Eila/Flora/Lorna but can't get of Skye from neighbours!

There are some great names, although I think lots of people would agree that sometimes the names seem old but then look at all the Violets/Florences/Lily's/Grace's/Eve's there are now all of which 15 years ago could have been considered "Old Lady" names. Hope they help!

boys:

Innes
jamie
Aonghas
caimbeul
Lachlann
Rhuaridh
Logan
niaill
Fionnlaigh
Blair
Brod ie
Blain

Girls:
Ailsa
Eilidh
Mhairi
Iona
Isla
Una
seonagh
Eileis
Ishbel

What's wrong with having a Scottish surname and first name?

I like

Angus
Hamish
Kinnon
Lachlan
Cameron
Laird
Alasdair
Ruaraidh
Iain
Gavin
Blair
Bran
Callum
Douglas
Gordon

May be some repeats, not read all thread:

Girls:

Ailish
Ainsley
Eilidh (pro Ay-lee)
Isla
Rhona
Marie (pro. Marry)
Kirsteen
Catriona (pro. Catrina)

Boys:
Alexander
Craig
Struan
Innes
Rory/Ruaridh (may have spelt that wrong, always do )
Logan
Kenneth
Cameron
Mackenzie
Finlay/Findlay/Finton/Finn

Oor Eck?

Ok here's my problem with it, and I know I'm being unreasonable, before you all jump on me, but specifically....

Upper class English people who have perhaps one Scottish great-grandparent and therefore the surname of, say, McDonald or Dewar and then call their brood Hamish, Struan, Ruaraidh, Eilidh and wee baby Jock.

Especially when none of them are going to speak with a Scottish accent, drink Irn Bru or say "stushie". But they will end up at Edinburgh University and join some fake Ceilidh Society and consider themselves to be "back home".

Obviously all Scottish MNers with any name combination whatsoever are excepted from this judgement.

I'm a Scottish genealogist so names are my bread and butter.

I get asked this q all the time and the truth (that nobody believes or wants to hear!) is that traditional Scottish first names go pretty much like this:

Alexander
Andrew
George
James
John
Peter
Robert
Thomas
William

Agnes
Ann/e/ie
Cathe rine
Isabella
Jane/Jean/ie
Jessie
Margaret
Mary
Williamina

Of course, if you want to name your kids Cameron and Finlay etc then they do sound very 'Scottish' but they aren't traditional and are only used commonly in last 15 years or so.

Up in the Highlands and Islands you see names like Murdina, Murdo etc as mentioned above, but across all Scottish population these names are relatively rare.

Giving your boys a Scottish surname as a first name again is matter of taste, it will make them sound very 'posh' to some ears. Billy Connolly does a good skit about it!

MorrisZapp I think you should check the top 100 Scottish names in 1900 www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files1/stats/name6.pdf

Angus, Finlay, Lachlan, Murdo, Hector ALL feature in the top names in Victorian times. I know lots of over 40s named Angus and Finlay. Most definitely not only commonly used in the past 15 years.

Aye, but they're not the commonest.

I've lived in Scotland all my life and (for instance) have only met one Hamish.

Angus is a good Scottish name but there would be maybe 10 James's to one Angus.

My family is filled with Roberts, Williams and Jeans as far back as they eye can see

Yes but that is because James, Robert and William are very commonly used throughout the UK; just like today. They are not specifically Scottish names just because they are commonly used there. Angus, Hamish, Finlay etc are specifically Scottish.

And they were commonly used in Victorian times. A name that featured at number 70 in those days was commonly used! Less names were in use - compared to today!

And Finlay was Macbeth's fathers name - how far back do you want to go?!

Fair points salony. Will you grant me Andrew and Alexander though? They are Scottish names, and v common too. Not exclusively Scottish of course but enough to go very well with a Mc surname.

OP - call your kid Andrew

I just don't like names that sound like a Hollywood scriptwriter's idea of Scottish. It is of course a matter of taste and tradition, each to their own. I've always liked Finlay as a name.

Yes, I will grant you those.

Andrew would be a breath of fresh air today!

PS I like Finlay too, but I would have to be a ponce and use the original Fionnlagh spelling; I think it looks so handsome!

Morag
Shona[Siona is more authentic]
Douglas
Kirsty
Jamie
Hamish

batterflyeffect Blimey - that's my life.

My Glaswegian accent is painful... my East Coast marginally better although I do sound as though I come from a very, very remote farm just north of Peterheid!

On the plus side, despite sounding like Bridget Jones I understand a whole bunch of dialects including Shetland (lived there!) and Cromarty!