The Art of Naming

The record of Kings and Queens of Scotland dates back to the year 843. Over the centuries,  there were many different houses that ruled including the House of Alpin,  the House of Dunkeld, the Canmores , the Balliols , the Bruces , and the Stewart/Stuarts. There were also points in history that Scotland, Great Britain and Ireland all fell under the same rule rather than running their countries separately. This happened in the time of the  Hanovers followed by the currently reigning Windsor house. Let's take a look back in history at the names of the rulers of Scotland in specific. I chose Scotland and this time period because of the variety of interesting names of their rulers. Now, this isn't going to be a history lesson. I won't pretend to be well versed in European History. This is strictly about the interesting names. House of Alpin: 843-858 Kenneth MacAlpin ( Cináed) 858-862 Donald I 862-877 Constantine I 877-878 Aedh 878-889 Eochaid 889-900

Today's featured name comes straight from our list of The Very Best G Names for Boys and Girls. It is a handsome choice that feels somewhat under-the-radar but is certainly climbing up the charts. Graham is a Scottish surname which was derived from the English place name Grantham. This name is likely to  mean "gravelly homestead" in Old English.  There is a bit of a debate surrounding the pronunciation of this name but this mostly differs based on accents. Americans tend to say "gram" whereas those in the UK and elsewhere might say "gray-um". Both are correct, it just depends on where you live and what you prefer. How do you say it? Graham first appeared as a surname in Scotland in the 12th century. It was worn by Baron William de Graham of Norway. Another famous Graham was Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) who is credited with inventing the telephone. While the name Graham has been in use since name statistics were first recorded in the US,

Did you pick your favorite male A name from the previous post about The Very Best A Names for Boys and Girls? I did. And I will be featuring it right now.  Alistair is the anglicized form of the name Alasdair which is the Scottish version of Alexander . See the similarities between the three names?  There are other brother-names drawn from Alexander like the Arabic Iskandar , the Finnish Aleksanteri , the Irish Alastar , the Russian Aleksandr and the Ukrainian Oleksander among many others.  Alexander itself comes from the Greek Alexandros which means "defender of men". Of course, Alexander is a Greek mythology name (another name for the hero Paris) and a biblical name (found in the New Testament). The most famous bearer in history was Alexander the Great. It has also been used by kings of Scotland, Poland and Yugoslavia, emperors of Russia and eight popes.  However, the English Alistair doesn't have any big namesakes. There are many modern people

The name Evander has two possible backgrounds. The first comes from the Latin Evandrus which comes from the Greek Ευανδρος ( Euandros ). This means "good man".  This background is the most widely accepted on baby naming sites. The second possible origin says that Evander is the anglicized form of Iomhar which is the Scottish from of Ivor. Ivor comes from the Old Norse name Ívarr meaning "bow warrior". Ivor was carried into Great Britain by Scandinavians in the Middle Ages. According to Behind the Name , in Roman mythology, Evander was an Arcadian hero who founded the city of Pallantium where Rome would later be built. He was responsible for bringing the Greek pantheon, laws and alphabet to Italy. This Evander also appeared in Virgil's Aeneid , a Latin epic poem written between 29 and 19 BC. The most well-known modern-day association with the name Evander belongs to boxing champ Evander Holyfield. There is also a Canadian hockey player named Evander

The name Ramsey was originally a surname. It comes from a place name meaning "wild-garlic island" in Old English. I came across this name as the name of a town on the Isle of Man. This month's World Wide Wednesday will focus on Manx names. Ramsey is also spelled as Rhumsaa in Manx. According to Behind the Name , Ramsay is a variant of Ramsey . It is used mostly in Scotland as a surname. According to Nameberry , Ramsay is English and means "low-lying land" but Babynames.com says that Ramsay refers to Raven's Island. Clearly there are some meaning discrepancies around the internet, but despite these two names being so similar, it does appear as though they have different meanings. The Baby Name Wizard says that Ramsay is a variant of Ramsey and that they are both Scottish surnames that originate from several different place-names. I already mentioned the town of Ramsey on the Isle of Man, but it is also said to come from either Hræm's Island, Ram&

Our first "Fan of the Week" contest winner was a woman named Kiira who chose two interesting European names! I will feature the girl's name next Thursday. The boy's name is Kinnon. It is a Scottish name that originated as a Gaelic surname. It comes from the name Mac Fhionghuin which means "son of the descendant of the well born".  The source was a bit confusing, but I believe it was first recorded in 728 a.d. as Mac Fhionghuin. Over time, the name has had many different spellings. One of the first recorded spellings of this family name was on a man named Lachlann Makfingane in 1409. After that came Fingonivs, and it evolved to M'Fynwyn around 1490, Makfingoun in 1560, and then Kynnane in 1587. The spelling McKynnoun was around in 1621, McKinin came in 1680, and by 1781 it was typically spelled MacKinnon. Other variations include McKinnon, MacKinning, MacInnon, MacKinnen and MacFingon. As a baby name, it is said to mean "fair born". In

The Boy Name of the Week is the Scottish form of a Gaelic name: Ewan. It is pronounced YOO-un. It comes from the Gaelic name Eoghan. There were several legendary Irish figures with the name Eoghan, which possibly means "born from the yew tree" in Irish. Some say it may be derived from Eugene which comes from Greek words meaning "well born."  I've also seen some sites say that Ewan means "Youth" but I'm not sure where they got that information from. So while I can't seem to get a clear picture on what it really means, it is still a very handsome name. Ewan can also be spelled Euan, Ewen, Ewyn or even Ouen, depending on where you live.  Sometimes it is said to be a variation of names like John, Owen, Evan, Hugh and again Eugene. Owen is actually the Welsh spelling of the name, also spelled Owain. If you do more research on Eoghan, you'll see that it also has various spellings and that its true meaning is heavily debated.  The ency