Scottish Last Names

A rare but distinguished Scottish name. The original Galloway is a region in south-west Scotland, and the meaning ("stranger-Gaels") refers to its mixed population of Scandinavian and Gaelic-speaking people. It later became a surname and a sturdy breed of cattle. Galloway could be a fresh addition to better-known Scottish places like Murray and Ross.

Can be used either with or without the addition of Mac.

This is a both fresher and cooler spin on David.

Chisholm is a habitational surname — if it's on your family tree, you have ancestors from Chisholme, Scotland, although they were originally of Norman and Saxon descent.

A softer take on Hunter. Huntley is evenly distributed between girls and boys, coming in at 47% female and 53% male at last count.

This habitational surname works as a modern way to honor a Carrie, Carolyn, or Caroline.

Huntley was best known as Brinkley's news partner several decades ago. With the new genre of girls' names that are unusual surnames ending with the lee sound -- think Mosley, Yardley -- Huntley or Huntlea or Huntleigh might rise for girls.

A surname very rarely heard as a first, associated with Hall of Fame basketball star Patrick Ewing and, in the 1980s, the oil-rich Ewing family on the nighttime soap, "Dallas"

Strong, spare, and highly unusual -- there were no babies recorded of either gender receiving this name in one recent year -- place-name referring to the northernmost state in New England. All state names qualify as distinctly American names.

This musical surname, associated with Bing Crosby and David Crosby of Crosby, Stills, & Nash could easily be used for girls, as names like Jagger and Bowie have been.

Best known to most as a brand of Whisky, Ballantine is a Scottish surname relating to the Celtic god Bal. It has potential as a off-the-beaten-track boys name that is still familiar. Ballantine is the brand name of a whiskey, a beer, and a publishing imprint.

The Mc and Mac surnames are asserting themselves as first names and this is among the most usable. MacArthur or McArthur makes a perfect honorific for an ancestral Arthur and leads directly to the nicknames Mac or Art

Stuffy presidential choice: consider Hayes instead.

Stokes is ultimately an English surname, although it's been used in Ireland and Scotland for generations as well. It's a variation of Stoke, a habitational surname, as there were many towns named Stoke in England. The origin of the word stoke, however, is contested. Some say it simply means "place," while others contest it designated a small hamlet. There's also evidence that connects it to the Old English word stocc, meaning "tree trunk."