Random: Scottish Gaelic Names – Separating the Wheat from the Chaff

A friend – currently doing the NaWriMo thingy – emailed to ask what I thought of this list she spotted at a baby names site. A couple of hours later, I’m still laughing.

Scottish Gaelic Baby Names – aye or nay?

(MB: when I say ‘Gaelic’, I’m referring to Scottish Gaelic. Irish Gaelic is generally known as, er, Irish Gaelic. )

• Logan - yes. A reasonably common surname, but very few in Scotland had it as their first name, though. No idea about now.
• Riley - not Gaelic. Irish Anglicised. Commonly, a surname. Only people who have this as their first name are usually American. Or were.
• Kade - not Gaelic.
• Abrianna - definitely not Gaelic.
• Brianna is modern and a tribute to Irish ancestry. NB: some say Brian is technically Welsh (remember, ancient Ireland was invaded and civilised by what-we-know-now-as-Welsh invaders). Brian is an extremely popular male name in Ireland, though, because it seems every third Irish man I meet is named Brian.
• Aidan / Aiden - not Gaelic. Irish Anglicised.
• Liam - Nope. Liam is the short version of Uilliam. Liam is also widely recognised as a popular Irish name, but it’s heavily used in England and south Scotland (Glasgow, particularly) as well. Not sure about Wales.
• Kylie - not Gaelic.  Australian, I think.
• Kyle - not Gaelic. There’s no ‘k’ in the Scottish Gaelic alphabet (basic: a, à, á, b, c, d, e, è , é, f, g, h, i, ì, l, m, n, o, ó, ò, p, r, s, t, u, ù).
• Caelan - not Gaelic. Judging by my guessed pronunciation of this name, the nearest would be Neacal (commonly associated with ‘Nicholas’, but not a direct translation).
• Brody - not Gaelic. Brodie is Scottish Anglicised, though, so perhaps Brody is a variation. It usually appears as a surname and a nickname; usually found in the south of Scotland. I met loads of Aussies with ‘Brodie’ or ‘Brody’ as their family names and in fewer cases, first name as well. There are loads of Scots with ‘Broderick’ as their surname, which is of course shortened to ‘Brodie’, ‘Roddie’, or for a sick laugh ‘Slayer’ or ‘Killer’ (a nod at a history of criminals with ‘Brodie’ as their surname).
• Ryan - not Gaelic. Irish Anglicised.
• Lucas - lulwut
• Kian - not Gaelic. Never seen this variation before. If it’s Cian, then it’s likely that it’s Irish.
• Rowan - not Gaelic. Commonly, a Welsh masculine name.
• Kyla - certainly not Gaelic.
• Caileigh - even though it looks Gaelic, definitely not Gaelic. Probably inspired by cèilidh (literal translation: “company” but understood as ‘social event’ and it’s pronounced as ‘kae-lig’; a community-oriented social event). This reminds me – I have seen this online of: ‘ceilidhs‘ and ‘ceilidhes‘ It’s cèilidhean, people. No English plural ‘s’. Furthermore, the concept of cèilidh is not exclusive to Scotland. Never was.
• Daegan - no. Just simply no.
• Kelly - not Gaelic. My guess, though? It’s probably Irish. It has that pattern. Common as a surname or a masculine first name in all corners of the UK and, usually, among the poor and working classes.
• Actually, I have a very strong impression that – historically in England – Gaelic or common Irish/Scottish names were generally seen as “one of those things” that only poor or working class people had. This view died out during the 1950s or 1960s, thanks to certain Irish, Scottish and Welsh celebrities who refused to Anglicise their names. Anyroad, I think it was around the 1980s that girls started to have Kelly as their first name?
• Kael - not Gaelic. I don’t think so. I can’t even guess where it came from. Never met anyone with this name, in history and in person. In fact, the only person I’m aware who had this name is Pauline Kael, an American film critic.
• Cameron - not Gaelic. Camshròn is. Traditionally, a surname and a masculine name. Giving a female newborn this name is a tad cruel because she’ll end up with ‘Long nose’, ‘Witch’ or ‘Liar’ as common school nicknames.
• Finn - not Gaelic. Irish Anglicised. Usually a surname.
• Amber - oh, for fuck’s sake.
• Kyler - not Gaelic.
• Rohan - not Gaelic.
• Marcus - Is this a joke?
• Tara - not Gaelic. I met some English women of Irish ancestry with these names: Tara and Kara.
• Rory - not Gaelic. Irish Anglicised.
• Blaine - not Gaelic. Irish Anglicised. Usually a surname.
• Kalen - not Gaelic.
• Callan - no idea. Probably Irish Anglicised. Usually a surname.
• Caitlin - not Gaelic. Modern and an American tribute to Irish ancestry. I think it was popular in the 1970s? No idea.
• Quinn - not Gaelic.
• Africa - Misspelt and not Gaelic. Should be spelt as Affric.
• Ailie - Misspelt and not Gaelic. Airlie is Scottish Anglicisation of Iarlaidh. It’s a place name.
• Kieran - not Gaelic.
• Eachthighearn - um, I don’t know how to respond to this. I have never seen this before, but it has the right feel of Irish Gaelic as the pattern fits. Although still undecided, I vote for ‘yes’. A first for this list! Yay. Oh, wait. Forgot about Logan.
• Annabelle - Give me a sodding break. Anna is the Gaelic form of Ann, though!
• Alanna / Alana - trust me, not Gaelic. Probably the feminine form of ‘Alan’, which is a popular masculine Scottish Anglicised name of Ailean.
• Fiona - not Gaelic. It’s well known that it was invented by a Scottish novelist. There were quite a few female Scots with this name.
• Kevin - not Gaelic. Popular in all corners of the UK, but I think there is a strong association between Kevin and Ireland. Culturally, it’s not a “good” name because of its association with football, thugs and bad-taste youths.
• Kaelan - not Gaelic.
• Kennedy - not Gaelic. Irish Anglicised.
• Colin - not Gaelic.
• Caela - no.
• Kylee - *sigh*
• Erin - nope.
• Seana - no.
• Callum - no.
• Brady - not Gaelic.
• Lana - not Gaelic.
• Cassidy - not Gaelic.
• Quade - not Gaelic.

I’m stopping. It’s quite bad that that site has all these listed as “Scottish Gaelic names”. It’s mostly Irish Anglicised names and particularly surnames. Only two are correctly identified as Scottish Gaelic names.

In any case we didn’t use Gaelic names in English, anyway. Etiquette. We went with English versions or equivalents, or chosen English names, when conversing in English.

Also, historically, when a person in our area had an Irish name, it usually meant he or her family had Irish ancestry and/or were Catholic. This sometimes generated tension among some locals. But that’s best left for another day.

Note about ‘Jamie’. It was rare to meet a male adult who kept ‘Jamie’. Dropping Jamie in favour of Jim, James, surname or chosen nickname was a rite of passage for most young men in the area. Jamie is heavily associated with youth or childhood, which is I think why most were anxious to stop people using the childish form when they became old enough. (I think this is why in romance genre novels, having heroes named Jamie seems icky or funny, depending on my mood.) That said, they can’t stop their own families from using it.

In fact, this sort can be incredibly helpful. Gaelic can help you figure out a person’s relationship with every person he or she speaks with, but it’s impossible to tell when they converse in English. So, when you hear someone referring James as ‘Jamie’ you can assume that that person is either a childhood friend or related to James’s family somehow. It’s not uncommon for a person in our area to have more than three ‘first’ names. More names a person has, easier to figure out the connections between the person and people around him or her.

When the locals insist on calling James (or whichever name he prefers) as ‘Jamie’ when he’s an adult, it carries a meaning: he’s a village idiot, immature, layabout, or anything that shows he commands little respect. I think the most common male name in our area was Gordon. Well, English names that cropped up were Andrew, James, Jack, Sandy (short for Alexander), Alexander, Lee, Lewis, and Daniel. I have never met anyone who had Cameron as their first name, which is incidentally one of England’s most popular names, oddly enough.

Years ago my second oldest brother asked us to stop referring him by his childhood name on his fourteenth birthday. I didn’t like his birth name so I ignored his request. He got really upset because he thought I was still seeing him as a little boy. Dad basically shamed me into stopping it.

I think it’s because in my home area, names were a political issue. Probably because names were heavily tied to loyalty as well as political and religious beliefs (no naming after local saints, for instance). In our time, though, it was already dying so I think it’s not that important nowadays. Back then, names were a Very Serious Business. Silly, really.