What’s In A Name: The Scottish Naming Tradition That Still Holds Today

There’s power in a name. Aside from choosing a name on your own, a number of Scottish families choose to go the traditional route and are referring to name patterns. These naming traditions for girls in Scotland include parent’s and grandparent’s names and variations of them. For example, a first born daughter would have the name of her maternal grandmother.

The other option would be using a variation of her paternal grandmother’s name.

The second born daughter should be named after her paternal grandmother, if not that name then a variation of her maternal grandmother’s name should be given.

The third born daughter would be named after her mother. The fourth born daughter should be named after her mother’s oldest sister, or a variation of her maternal great grandmother’s name.

A fifth born daughter would be named after her father’s oldest sister, or a variation of her paternal great grandmother’s name. This tradition has a lot to do with family and ensuring they live on through their grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Using Gaelic variations of names from different cultures is also a popular way of naming baby girls. This tradition in Scotland still lives on today and has made it easy for genealogists to easily identify possible relatives and even form entire family trees.