Scottish Baby Names [Hardcover]

Over the centuries names in Scotland have been much influenced by immigrants, from the Vikings in the north, to the Norman French who came into Scotland from England after the Norman Conquest, and the Irish who came to Scotland, especially during the mid-nineteenth century as a result of the potato famine. This influence is reflected in Scottish Baby Names, but the book does not cover ethnic names which have become known in Scotland as a result of relatively recent immigration. Such names do not, as yet, occur in numbers which are statistically significant enough to appear in lists of most frequent or most popular names.

Given that this is a relatively small book, it cannot, obviously, be comprehensive in its coverage of names, but it gives a valuable insight into the naming process in Scotland, both ancient and modern.

The Scots method of naming children has changed greatly in recent years. Traditionally Scots children were named after other family members. For example, many families followed the custom of naming the eldest two sons and daughters after the four grandparents, usually the eldest son and eldest daughter being named after the paternal grandfather and grandmother and the next eldest son and daughter being named after the maternal grandfather and grandmother. Other children, of which there were likely to be far more in number than in the average modern family, were frequently named after their parents, aunts, uncles and close family friends.

Usually there was little sign of variety and each generation was likely to have much the same range of traditional names. These came from different sources. Some of them, such as Angus, Torquil, Fergus, Mhairi and Catriona, were Gaelic in origin and were originally particularly popular among Highland families. Other names were popularized by Scottish kings and queens, such as Robert, Malcolm, Margaret, Alexander and Charles. Some names were biblical in origin, including John, James, Mary and Elizabeth.

In recent years there has been a distinct change in the habits of Scottish parents when it comes to naming their children. Few families adhere to the system of naming offspring after family members any more and if they did, few would get further than the grandparents' names, families generally being much smaller than in the past. Nowadays, parents spend a long time poring over books to choose names that they particularly like. Sometimes they decide to be particularly innovative and make up names.

Modern names which have become popular, perhaps because of a celebrity with the name, include Brooke, Kayleigh, Kylie and Paige. Side by side with this trend goes an increase in the use of Celtic names, both Scottish and Irish, such as Caitlin, Callum, Connor, Kieran, Liam, Mairi/Mhairi, Niamh, Nuala and Sean. Some Welsh names have also become popular in Scotland recently, including Megan, Owen and Rhys, often now spelt Reece.

Also a feature of recent trends in naming children is the resurgence in popularity of names which were once popular, although not necessarily particularly popular in Scotland, but which had gone out of fashion. Many of these are girls' names, including Charlotte, Emma, Emily and Lucy. There has also been an increase in popularity of Old Testament names such as Daniel, Joshua, Nathan, Rachel, Rebecca, Hannah and Leah.

Many traditional first names have diminutive or pet forms. In recent times many of these, such as Archie, Ben, Ellie, Jamie, Katie, Sam and Vicky/Vikki have become first names in their own right, many overtaking the parent name in popularity.

There has been a tradition in Scotland, more so than in other countries, of using surnames as first names, particularly male first names. To some extent this tradition has continued into modern times and, for example, Cameron appears in the top ten in recent lists of most popular boys' names in Scotland, recently also being used occasionally as a female first name.

Many of the first names in this book have been selected because they featured recently in the top fifty most popular names in Scotland, the information being obtained from the General Register Office for Scotland via the Internet. Other names featured include traditional or older names which have once been popular, although they may no longer be. Who knows? They may return to popularity one day since the choice of first names is subject to relatively swift changes in fashion.

Apologies if your name or that of your child is not here. There are so many first names that it was not possible to include all of them with the space available in the book.

Scottish Baby Names is a valuable source of information for Scots in Scotland, for the many people of Scots heritage who live elsewhere but are interested in their roots, and for people who are just interested in things Scottish. Moreover, its handy size makes it an ideal book for browsing through.