Scottish Names... a light-hearted look at history and origins of Scottish First Names, Surnames and Place Names...
...and occasionally, a name that's nane o' thae at a'. "..An legs, an' arms, an' heads will sned, Like taps o' THRISSLE." (To a Haggis) FAILT! Welcome to our section on Scottish Names – First Names, Surnames and Place Names. a mixtur-maxtur o' how they cam' aboot & whaur they cam' frae, their meanings, and stories concerning - in no particular order. Most people, whatever their nationality, have names derived from somewhere or something – very few, I believe, are just invented! At some point in our lives, again, I believe, we want to find out where we have come from. But before going down the whole genealogical route, a start would be to see where our names originate from. In my experience, many English names, for example, originate from the job that the forefathers did: Baker, Butcher,Chandler, Killick, Farmer, Lorimer, Fisher … you get the idea. The Celtic nations seem to be a little different – many of their names coming from places, or family groupings such as Clans – but the origins can often be either obscure, or have a number of explanations of the derivation (sometimes leading to acrimonious exchanges - or a wee stramash - between the different advocates)... …for Example:- FRASER (Frazer) Motto - "All my Hope is in God"; and for Fraser of Lovat - "Je suis prest" (I am ready) Derivations: 1) the first record of the name pops up in the mid-twelfth century as "de Fresel", "de Friselle", and "de Freseliere", It appears to be a Norman name, but the derivation of this is unknown. 2) a medieval scribe could have miscopied and/or corrupted a Gaelic name beyond recognition. 3) The name derives from the French word for the fruit Strawberry - "fraise"; the fruit appears in the Coat of Arms. 4) the name came from a Frenchman called Pierre Fraser, Seigneur de Troile, who arrived in Scotland in the late 8th century AD.
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Yet on occasion the derivation can be simple: for example the name Scott literally means “he who is Scottish” or somebody who speaks Gaelic. To quote - “As Scotus as much meant a Gael as Flandrensis meant a Fleming or Galweiensis a native of Galloway, the great Border clan of Scott must have been settlers from beyond the Forth.”
The Scotts in their early days gained stature through being “well married” and so acquired vast lands. In time, the Scott clan became one of the most powerful Border clans. By the end of the fifteenth century it was reckoned that the Chief of the Scott clan could easily rally together “1000 spears” or 1000 men if need be to go to war. The name Scott is the most popular Scottish name in America: it's the 34th most common name overall throughout the country - approximately 470,000 people have the last name Scott. Now, we're not going to bore you with the long list of an A-Z of names, along with their history; rather, we're going to choose particular names and places and give a history of their origins, particularly where there are any interesting facts we can glean. Please remember – if you want a particular name or place included in this section – simply leave your request in the suggestions box on the Suggestions Page of Find-It-In-Scotland – it’s your site… you tell us what you want to see on it.
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***** Scottish names and the Clans. Many Scottish surnames are linked to Clans. Why? During the 13th century, the Gaelic word for ‘children’ - "Clann" -was more accurately translated as ‘family’ in the Scottish Highlands. A clan is basically a social group whose core comprises a number of families derived from, or accepted as being derived from, a common ancestor. Almost without exception, that core is accompanied by a further number of dependent and associated families who have either sought the protection of the clan at some point in history or have been tenants or vassals of its chief. That chief is owed allegiance by all members of the clan, but ancient tradition nevertheless states that ‘the Clan is above the Chief’. Although Gaelic has been supplanted by English in the Lowlands of Scotland for nearly a thousand years, it's an acceptable convention to refer to the great Lowland families, such as the Douglases, as Clans, (although the heads of certain families, e.g. Bruce, prefer not to use the term). The father’s clan was generally given allegiance, but Celtic tradition includes a strong element of descent through, and loyalty to, a mother’s line. In reality, the chief of a clan would ‘ingather’ any stranger – of whatever family – who possessed suitable skills, maintained his allegiance and, if required, adopted the clan surname. However, it's estimated currently that there are over 16,000 (spelling variations included) Scottish surnames, but fewer than 3,000 of these are of Highland origin and associated with Clans. The majority of Scots throughout history lived in the Lowlands and developed a culture which produced the bulk of Scotland’s genius, but without the glamour that is now associated with their Highland neighbours.
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