Scottish Gaelic name
A formal Gaelic language name consists of a given name and a surname. First names are either native or nativized. Surnames are generally patronymic, i.e. they refer to a historical ancestor. The form of a surname varies according to whether its bearer is male or female though for some surnames the adjectival form of a name such as Dòmhnallach can be used for both men and women. However, when used in the female form the first letter is lenited.
First names
Gaelic first names chiefly hail from 5 linguistic layers, Goidelic and 4 others, coinciding with the main languages of contact: Latin, Norse, Anglo-Norman and Scots. Unusually, male first names outnumber female first names by about a factor of 2:1.Goidelic names
This layer can be broadly split into three main types:- descriptive names, e.g. Fionn 'fair, bright', Art 'bear'
- old compounds ; e.g., Dòmhnall "Donald", Murchadh "Murdo"
- compounds, e.g. Donn-slèibhe "Dunlevy", Gille Chrìost "Gilchrist"
Norse names
Quite a number of names still common hail from the period of Norse contact:- Somhairle < Sumarliðr
- Tormod < Þórmóðr
- Torcuil < Thorkel
- Ìomhar < Ivar
Anglo-Norman
Names from this layer include:- Sìleas < Giles
Scots
Scots names which have been borrowed into Gaelic include:- Eairrdsidh < Archie
Latin
Names which were borrowed from Latin include:- Pàdraig < Patricius
- Sìle < Caecilia
Borrowing into English/Scots
A fair number of Gaelic names were borrowed into English or Scots at different periods, although it can sometimes be difficult to tell if the donor language was Irish or Scottish Gaelic. On occasion, the same name was borrowed more than once due to misinterpretation of Gaelic morphology. For example, the names Hamish and Mhairi are derived from Gaelic Seumas and Màiri but rather than borrowing the root forms, the English/Scots forms are based on the Gaelic vocative case forms Sheumais and Mhàiri.Some names which did not acquire currency outside the Gaelic-speaking world were roughly transliterated into English, such as Gormuil which is often rendered as "Gormelia".
Others with no cognate were often equated with English/Scots names which bore some similarity to the Gaelic name in order to obtain "English equivalents". This includes Oighrig which was equated with Euphemia or Henrietta, Dìorbhail with Dorothy, Beathag with Rebecca or Sophie.
Surnames
The majority of Gaelic surnames in the Highlands and western parts are patronymic in nature and of Goidelic extraction, although epithets, geography or occupation and borrowings also occur in some surnames. However, many surnames are derived from topographical features or place names, Such surnames include Caddenhead/Cionnchadach, Cadell/Cadalach, Cleghorne/Clagarnach, Dalzell/Dailghileach, Dalrimple/Ruimpealach, Elphin/Ailbhinneach, Inverbervie/Biorbhach, Kelty/Cailtidheach, Learmonth/Learmonadhach, Ochiltree/Ochailtreabhach and many more.Campbell/Caimbeul "crooked mouth" and Cameron/Camshron "crooked nose" are two examples of surnames based on epithets, while Fraser/Frisealach is an example of a borrowing.
The usage of patronymic surnames was much more varied than is generally assumed. Historically, clan surnames were used by the descendants or dependants of an ancestor but not generally by everyone in the clan territory. Only with the advent of a non-Gaelic speaking administration were clan surnames applied en-masse to people in a clan's territory.
Formation
Patronymic surnames for men feature either the word mac "son" or the nominalizing suffix . Various other morphological changes may apply in Gaelic, so the surname MacDonald for example may appear as MacDhòmhnaill, MhacDhòmhnaill, MhicDhòmhnaill, NicDhòmhnaill depending on the grammatical context.In Classical Gaelic culture, clans could also feature the word ua "grandchild, descendant", e.g. Ua Dhuibhne "Duibhne's descendant", the original surname of the Campbells. In speaking, ua/''ó in names became reduced to, as happened also in Northern Irish and Manx, and disappeared from Anglicised forms. With the break-up of Classical Gaelic culture, ua/ó'' disappeared from Scottish surnames, sometimes replaced by mac.
As a result of misspellings, one Gaelic surname often corresponds to numerous English/Scots forms, e.g. MacDhonnchaidh "son of Duncan" may appear as: Donagh, Donnagh, Donogh, MacConachie, MacConachy, MacConaghy, MacConchy, MacConechie, MacConkey, MacConnachie, MacConnechie, MacConnichie, MacConochie, MacConoughy, MacDona, MacDonachie, MacDonachy, MacDonaghy, MacDonaugh, MacDonnach, MacDonnagh, MacDonnoghie, MacDonogh, MacDonoghue, MacDonough, MacDunphy, MacKonochie, MacOnachie, MacOnechy, MacOnochie, Donohue or Donohoe.
Scottish Gaelic does not put a space between the Mac/Nic and the second element, whereas in Irish, there is a space:
| Scots Gaelic | Irish | English/Scots |
| MacAonghais | Mac Aonghasa | MacInnes et al. |
| MacDhòmhnaill | Mac Domhnaill | MacDonald et al. |
| MacEòghainn | Mac Eoghain | MacEwen et al. |
| MacMhàrtainn | Mac Máirtín | MacMartin et al. |
Nicknames
Nicknames in Gaelic operate similarly to those in other languages and usually indicate a physical characteristic, an occupation, a location or an incident the person is associated and so forth.Some examples
Character traits
- Caitrìona na h-Aonar, a woman who enjoyed doing everything on her own
Geographical references
- An t-Arcach, a man who used to fish around the Orkney Islands in his youth
- Bliadhnach Phabaigh, a woman who had been a year old when the Isle of Pabbay was cleared of people
Humorous names
- Calum Seòladair, an unusual name for a woman who was in the habit of wearing a sailor's cap
- Clag a' Bhaile, a man with a very loud voice
Occupation
- Ailean Còcaire, a man who was employed at one time as the cook at Ormacleit Castle
- Aonghas a' Bhancair, a man who was employed in a bank in Nova Scotia
- Donchadh Clachair, a known 19th and 20th century resident of Achadh an Droighinn/Auchindrain township in Argyll, Scotland: used for Duncan Munro, d. 1937.
- Domnhall Rothach, used in Argyll in the 1920s to describe a Donald MacCallum who ran a mobile grocer's shop in a van
Physical characteristics
- Bodach a' Chnatain
- Calum na Coise, a man who had a short leg
- Dòmhnall na Cluaise, a man who is said to have lost an ear in a fight
- Raibeart Bhan, a man called Robert with light-coloured hair
Other
- An Caillteanach, a man who had become lost, causing the entire village to spend the night looking for him
- Ìomhair a' Bhogha Mhaide, a renowned archer and one time resident of Pabay
- Bell a' Phuill, used for Isabella McCallum of Achadh an Droighinn/Auchindrain township in Argyll, Scotland: her house was close to the ford where the cattle crossed the burn
Identifying names
Due to the relative paucity of names and surnames in Gaelic, the official name of a person is rarely used in Gaelic speaking communities as, with a small number of surnames usually predominating in an area, there are usually several people who go by the same combination, for example John MacLeod might apply to several people in the same village. In everyday life, this is usually solved by using the first name of a man, followed by the first name of his father in the genitive case or by using the first name plus an epithet. So a man called James with a father called Neil would become Seumas Nèill or Seumas a' Ghlinne. In the case of married women, the convention is normally to use bean plus the husband's first name and father's first name, in our example resulting in Bean Sheumais Nèill. The family tree below illustrates this custom.Historically, such an identifying name would take the mac "son" element, e.g. Dòmhnall mac Sheumais mac Nèill but in modern usage, this is usually dropped, resulting in Dòmhnall Sheumais Nèill.
Identifying names sometimes use female reference points, for example if a local woman marries an outsider, this may result in the children being identified via the mother. Dòmhnall Chiorstan for instance would indicate a son called Donald with a mother called Kirsten.