top Scottish boy's names

[OC Richard]

I came across this online. I don't know what source it's based on.

But for us in the Scottish diaspora (like myself, an American who has spent the vast majority of my life in the Scottish-American community) it makes for interesting reading:

"These are the most popular boys' names in Scotland for 2015
1 Jack
2 Oliver
3 James
4 Lewis
5 Alexander
6 Charlie
7 Lucas
8 Logan
9 Harris
10 Daniel
11 Finlay
12 Jacob
13 Leo
14 Mason
15 Noah
16 Harry
17 Alfie
18 Max
19 Callum
20 Aaron
21 Adam
22 Thomas
23 Ethan
24 Rory
25 Cameron
26 Archie
27 Oscar
28 Matthew
29 Nathan
30 Joshua
31 Brodie
32 William
33 Liam
34 Ryan
35 Jamie
36 Harrison
37 Joseph
38 Dylan
39 Samuel
40 Riley
41 David
42 Ollie
43 Andrew
44 Connor
45 Luke
46 Muhammad
47 Jaxon
48 Kyle
49 Benjamin
50 Michael
51 Caleb
52 Jackson
53 George
54 Finn
55 Leon
56 Fraser
57 Murray
58 Jake
59 John
60 Arran
61 Angus
62 Cole
63 Robert
64 Cooper
65 Isaac
66 Jayden
67 Aiden
68 Kai
69 Theo
70 Jude
71 Ben
72 Tyler
73 Ruaridh
74 Owen
75 Blake
76 Freddie
77 Euan
78 Josh
79 Blair
80 Robbie
81 Hamish
82 Kian
83 Sam
84 Aidan
85 Jay
86 Christopher
87 Reuben
88 Cody
89 Luca
90 Lachlan
91 Elliot
92 Evan
93 Sonny
94 Calum
95 Henry
96 Rhys
97 Carson
98 Harvey
99 Calvin
100 Callan"

I think it's nice to see distinctively Scottish names like Finlay, Angus, Rory/Ruaridh, Cameron, Fraser, Murray, Euan, Blair, Hamish, Lachlan, and Callum make the list.

And some Scottish place-names like Kyle, Harris, and Arran.

I notice something that always shows up on US baby names lists: people naming their babies with nicknames rather than the full original names, on this list for example Jack, Charlie, Leo, Archie, Jamie, Ben, Freddie, Sam, Robbie, Max, Josh, Alfie, and Theo.

In this way both Harry and Harrison, Jack and John make the list.

I notice some Irish and Welsh names appearing, though of course there are Celtic names common to the three countries(often with a change in spelling) giving us Euan and Owen.

[John_Carrick]

Perturbed to see John at 59, but if Jack is what is on your birth certificate then it is not short for any other name. Most interesting list.

It is interesting that that names that were old hat when I was a lad like George or Alfie (not Alfred of course), are making a bit of a comeback and names that are really surnames are becoming more popular like Mason or Brodie.

[neloon]

Here are the 2017 figures
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-42409512

Alan

[OC Richard]

Two absences I noticed were Richard and Patrick.

With Scotland's large Irish-ancestry population I did expect Patrick.

About your John/Jack point, to play devil's advocate I'll take the side that somebody's not knowing that Jack is a nickname for John doesn't change the fact that it is.

But yes what your parents name you is what your name is.

Which brings to mind a story I heard as a kid back in Appalachia. The background is that boys are often known by their first two initials (while girls are called their full first and middle names) so back there I would be called RD and my sisters would be called Barbara Jean and Patty Ann.

Well, there was a boy whose parents named him RB. Just those two letters. In town it didn't draw attention to itself because there were RD's and JB's and such all over.

Then the war* came, and young RB joined the army.

RB walks up to the typist/clerk who asks him "Name?"

"RB Smith."

"Full Name?"

"That is my full name. R and B don't stand for anything. My parents just named me RB."

The clerk pondered for a moment, and typed

R (only) B (only) Smith

When RB's paperwork was processed his name came out as Ronly Bonly Smith.

It stuck... and after the war when he returned to town he was known as Ronly Bonly the rest of his life.

* "the war": when the old people would sit around and tell these stories there was almost never any clue as to time period. People have long memories there, and "the war" might mean a recent war, though this is unlikely. It could mean WWII. Or WWI. Just as likely it means the Civil War.

[OC Richard]

Here are the 2017 figures
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-42409512

Alan

I see there hasn't been a sea-change, looks like those names are on the 2015 list too.

BTW I read an interesting article about baby-names in the US, how fads happen for particular names.

The interesting thing was that what seemed logical on the surface wasn't borne out by the reality.

So... there would be a famous politician or movie star or book or film character and then their name would become popular for babies.

Seems logical: there's a name in the public eye, and people start naming their babies after the famous person or character.

But when they searched through birth records they found, over and over, that the name was already getting popular before the famous person had risen to fame, before the book was published or the movie began production that featured a character with a name which became a fad. Yes the baby-name peaked in popularity when the famous name was in the news, but it's popularity had already been on the rise.

This happened to my wife and I. We had chosen the name "Ross" for our boy long before he was born. It's a fairly rare name here, and at the time I'd only known one Ross, the son of local Scottish immigrants.

But around the time our Ross was born suddenly the name was all over the news, with a Ross running for President of the US and a Ross character on a hit TV show. I'm guessing that people, seeing when our Ross was born, might guess he's named for one of those people.

[Jack Daw]

A couple of points from the 2015 - 2017 lists: Alexander remains in the top 10, but Alistair is not; one nephew I have is named Jack (#1), not John, despite the latter being a big family name, so I'm not as disappointed; and, Mohammed has climbed 11 places in 2017 to #36.

[kingandrew]

It's also interesting to note the appearance of variant spellings, as in Jaxon and Jackson. This is something we see lots of in US baby names, with things like Brittany/Britney/Britanee, etc.

In addition, the "unusual" names on the Scottish list are nearly all Gaelic/Scottish names of long standing (Rory, Hamish, etc.). US baby names are often of the "creative" sort, with odd new coinages sometimes gaining widespread popularity, such as the rise of names like "Jace," strange one-offs like "Naquavia," andeven kids named after brands, such as "Lexus" or "Timberland."

Andrew (a name much more popular now than when I was born).

[fflex]

Wayhay! I made the top 5; that doesn’t happen often 😜

[CollinMacD]

Two of my names are very Scottish. ALLAN/ALAN/ALLEN and my middle name COLLIN (Scottish) and Colin (Irish) are very Gaelic, yet missing???? Yet Collin/Colin has become a fairly popular in US and
Canada now. Very disappointing....Please understand my post is not meant to be egotistical, but generations of MacDonald, Clanranald, Sleet, Skye etc. has many Collin/Colin, Allan's, Agnus, Alexander, and especially Archibald, and Donald. Wonder why they are missing? Now those are real SCOTTISH names...

Surprised Jamie and Claire (Outlander) has not gained in popularity. I understand, just recently the Outlander Series has finally been release in Scotland on public TV, only available on pay TV, and not publicized, you might see a gain in popularity with those names this year.

My daughter named my Grandkids"

Andrew, Grace, and William..... I call them the "Royal Family".. My daughter has a very strong Scottish name, Laurie Ann. Funny but Elizabeth, Mary, Marion, Kay, Bridget, and especially Margaret, are either low or not there, and yet VERY Scottish

CHEERS

[The Q]

My Dads name is Duncan, which I think isn't there,
And his brothers were
Malcolm,
Colin,
Ian,
Eugene
Their names are also missing.

My first name is also missing as is my middle name, but since I'm the only one in the UK with the first name and one of only 175 with my middle name i was expecting that.