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Scottish Names Resources

Last updated 3 May 2007  

Here are some names articles, lists, and resources prepared by myself and others. Some of them are specifically prepared for people involved in historical re-creation or re-enactment, such those involved with Renaisance Fairs or the SCA.

If you are trying to recreate a medieval Scottish name, be aware that medieval Scotland never had a single common vernacular language or culture in the Middle Ages, and that names are very dependent on language and culture. (Medieval Scottish names didn't mix and match freely from different languages and cultures -- not even from different Scottish languages and cultures -- as people do modernly.) For more information on the complexities of names in Scotland, see Scottish Names 101.

Articles hosted by this website can be searched.

Please get the permission of the appropriate author before redistributing any of these files!

Index to This Page:

Scottish Names Articles, Lists, and Resources

General

Gaelic (including Highland) Names

Names in Gaelic

Names of Gaels in Languages Other Than Gaelic

Scoto-Norman, Scots-Speaking Culture, and Lowland Names

Northern Isles Names

In the early Middle Ages the Northern Isles (Orkney and Shetland) were inhabited by Picts (see Pictish Names), but by the late 10th century they had been settled by the Norse (see Norse Names). Although the Northern Isles were not acquired by Scotland (from Denmark) until 1468-9, the Scots language and Lowland influences arrived earlier, in the late 14th century, via the Scottish Sinclair Earls of Orkney. However, Norn (the local dialect/language descended from Norse) continued to be spoken in the Northern Isles into the 17th century. (Note that the Northern Isles were never Gaelic speaking.)

Pictish Names

Cumbric Names

In the early Middle Ages several kingdoms in the south and southwest of what would later become Scotland, such as Gododdin, Strathclyde, and Rheged, spoke Cumbric, a Brythonic language closely related to Old Welsh.

Romany (Gypsy) Names

People identified as "Egyptians" first appeared in Scotland (in the Lowlands) in the early 16th century.

Names Resources for Related Cultures

Name Resources for Household and Other Group Names

Documentation for Individual Names (Scottish and Other European)

Resources for Titles

SCA-Specific Name Issues

How to Document Names for Submission to the SCA College of Arms

These articles explain what information needs to be included with a name submission to the SCA College of Arms. Note that the same information is needed both on/with the submission form and on the Letter of Intent (LoI): namely, an original write-up demonstrating, with quotes of evidence and citation of sources, that the submitted name is registrable with the SCA. If the documentation (that is, original write-up) included on/with the submission form is done well, it should not need to be either summarized or expanded for the LoI, but ideally simply copied verbatim (preferably electronically!)

Further Resources


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