Looking through the birth announcements in the Scottish newspapers of the last few months-a site which also sometimes include the regions just below the Scottish border and the Isle of Man–a couple of prominent trends jump out.
First of all it’s the nickname names, which right now seem to be even more prevalent in Scotland than in England, for both girls and boys, with a plethora of Ellies and Evies, Alfies and Archies. Here is a list of recent ones, with some of the middle names attached to them (separated by slashes):
girls
CHARLEE
CHARLI
ELLIE May
EMMIE
EVIE May/Rose/Elizabeth/Harriet
(Alexa) GEORGIE
GRACIE May
IZZY Henderson
JOSIE Mo
LIBBY May
LOTTIE Aoife (pron. EE-fa)
MAISIE Claire/Dolly/Elizabeth/Immogen
MILLIE Elizabeth/Grace/Louise/Mae
MINNIE Rose
boys
ALFIE Christopher/Daniel/Jack/James/Peter/Steven/Anthony/Thomas/William/Zane
ARCHIE David/James/Peter/Keith Oliver/Thomas
BILLY Jacob
BOBBY Francis/Martin
CHARLIE Lee
FREDDI James
FREDDIE Albert
LENNY
LEWIE Tyler
OLLIE
RED James
REGGIE Elliott
RODDY
SONNY Robert
THEO Etomi
VINNIE Marc David
Another noticeable trend is a return to the Mary–Jane-style hypenated name:
ARCHIE–JAY Robert
DANIEL–JAMES
ELLIE–MAY
EVA–SIENNA
ISLA–MIN
KARLA–ELISE
LILLY–JAE
LILY–MAE
MILEY–LEIGH
SOPHIE–ANNE Rose
TAHLIA–ROSE
TIEGAN–ROSE
For girls, many of the current international favorites are equally popular in Scotland: the various forms of Isabel, including the Scottish Isobel, Chloe, Scarlett, Sophie/Sophia, Olivia, Ruby, Grace, Lucy (often spelled Lucie) and Lily, Emma and Emily, plus a generous sprinkling of girls named Bethany, Mia, Freya, Amelia, Alice, Daisy, Poppy, Isla, Imogen, and Summer. Also widespread is the Gaelic Niamh (pron. neev) and its Anglicized variations: Neive, Nieve, Neve. Most used as middles: Mae/May, Louise, Rose, Grace.
Here are some of the more unusual (outside Scotland anyway) baby girl choices found:
AALIN Elizabeth
AALISH
ANGEL Lily
ANYA Ebony Elizabeth
AYDA Elizabeth
AZARIA Jane
CHARLOTTE Bluebell
DAISEY Rose Virtue
EILIDH (pron. AY-lee) Catherine/Nicola/Sharon
FRANCE Lacey Anne
KALISE
KARIS
KEAVY Lucy
MIRREN
OTTILIE (Tillie) Upton
RENNAE
ROMAE Serenity
TAO Brown
Turning to the boys, classics rule, most particularly Jack, George, Harry and Samuel, plus the trendier Ethan, Jacob, Caleb, Lucas. Also big are Callum/Calum, Cameron, Conor/Connor, Ellis (epidemic), Harvey, Harley, Finlay/Finley, and Lewis.
And among the more distinctive:
ASTON Mark
ARRAN James
BODEN Richard
CAVAN Patrick
DANYL Benjamin/Sean
DEXTER Michael
FENIX
JALCOLM Jack
KOEN
HAMISH Stanley
ILLIAM (Iggy) Gorry
JENSON Ray
KAELAN
KAIN, KANE, KAYNE
KENZIE Richard
LENNON Arthur
MIAN Bobby
OSHIN
PHERIC Ross Thomas
ROCCO Simon
STANLEY John Alwyne
STRUAN Finlay Peter/Scott