Scottish Names

Scotland names from three directions at once — Gaelic in the west and north, Norse in the isles, and Scots and Norman French in the lowlands. A Scottish name therefore tells you roughly where in the country it comes from, which is not true of English names.

Languages behind these names Gaelic Irish Scottish Gaelic uncertain Hebrew Greek

Rankings for

22 names, uncommon — 100 to 499 a year, in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Lachlan Lachlan is a boy's name of Scottish Gaelic origin meaning "land of the lochs," which was the Gaelic term for Scandinavia — so in practice it meant Norseman.
Boy Scottish 477 in 2025
Lochlan Lochlan is a boy's name of Gaelic origin meaning "land of the lochs," which was the Irish and Scottish term for Scandinavia — so in practice it means Norseman.
Boy Scottish 444 in 2025
Mac Mac is a boy's name from the Gaelic word for son, which appears in every Mc- and Mac- surname there is.
Boy Scottish 395 in 2025
Makenzie Makenzie means son of the handsome one, which is an odd fit for a name that is 99 percent female in our records — the Gaelic Mac is a patronymic, and it has not been reinterpreted.
Girl Scottish 406 in 2025
Mckinley Peaked in 2014 · 23,734 births since 1890
Unisex Scottish 423 in 2025
Leslie Leslie is a Scottish place name turned surname turned given name, and it has crossed sexes: about 71 percent of the births in our records are female, though the name began firmly male and remains so in Britain.
Unisex Scottish 425 in 2025
Clyde Clyde took nothing from Bonnie and Clyde.
Boy Scottish 350 in 2025
Maisy Peaked in 2010 · 11,920 births since 1996
Girl Scottish 365 in 2025
Keith Keith is a boy's name from a Scottish place name, probably from a Brittonic word for a wood.
Boy Scottish 311 in 2025
Jessie Jessie is a name that arrives from two unrelated directions — the Scottish pet form of Janet, and a feminine of the Hebrew Jesse.
Unisex Scottish 456 in 2025
Melvin Melvin is a boy's name from a Scottish place name, and the gentle chieftain reading usually given for it is an invention — the source is a Norman family who took their name from Malleville in France.
Boy Scottish 243 in 2025
Wallace Wallace means foreigner, and the irony is complete — it is the Anglo-Saxon word for the Britons who were there first, so Scotland's national hero carries a name meaning outsider in his own country.
Boy Scottish 247 in 2025
Alec Alec means defender of men, and France ranks it 536th — above the United States at 979th, which is not where a Scottish short form of a Greek name would be expected to lead.
Boy Scottish 234 in 2025
Kelvin Kelvin is the only name on this site that is also an SI unit, and the order runs river to man to measurement — a Glasgow river gave a physicist his title, and the title was given to the scale of absolute temperature.
Boy Scottish 214 in 2025
Brodie Brodie is a boy's name of Scottish origin taken from a place near Forres in Moray.
Boy Scottish 219 in 2025
Lyle Lyle is a boy's name from the Norman French for "the island," and the l at the front is the definite article rather than part of the word.
Boy Scottish 216 in 2025
Gordon Gordon is a Scottish surname turned given name, from a place in Berwickshire whose meaning is not settled — spacious fort is the usual gloss but it is a guess.
Boy Scottish 209 in 2025
Cory Cory has at least three unrelated origins — a Norse island name, an Irish surname and a Greek word for a maiden — and English cannot distinguish them.
Boy Scottish 174 in 2025
Kenny Kenny sits on top of two different Gaelic names that English collapsed into one — Cináed, born of fire, and Coinneach, handsome.
Boy Scottish 161 in 2025
Ross Ross means a headland or a promontory, from Gaelic, and Scotland ranks it 328th — its strongest market, ahead of Ireland at 347th and far ahead of the United States at 1465th.
Boy Scottish 122 in 2025
Robbie Robbie is a unisex name of Germanic origin meaning "bright fame," a diminutive of Robert.
Unisex Scottish 120 in 2025
Johnnie Johnnie means God is gracious, a pet form of John.
Unisex Scottish 103 in 2025

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