Scottish Names for Boys

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.

Farquhar has a great meaning, but unfortunate potential for mispronunciation. It was originally a given name in the Scottish highlands, but is more commonly known today as a surname. It's occasionally given to children in Scotland, but rarely if ever elsewhere. (And no, the character in Shrek was Lord Farquaad.)

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

Rarely used un-Gaelic-sounding Scottish name with literary associations to Erskine Caldwell, author of Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre.

Lively and engaging Scottish surname, particularly appropriate for a boy born on Monday.

Unusual and unappealing.

An old name still occasionally heard in the U.K., but still and perhaps forever a foreigner in the U.S. Can be spelled Ranulf.

There's a Perth in Scotland and a bigger one in Australia; this name could make a statement similar to Heath.

At one time associated with the fictional detective Bulldog Drummond, this formal surname name does boast the cute nickname Drum.

For towheads with ties to Scotland -- in theory, anyway.

A nice enough last name that turns supercilious as a first.

An old French surname derived from baille, meaning "fortification" – the same root as the English word bailey. The surname was borne by an aristocratic English family descended from French nobility.

Earvin gained NBA fame as the birth name of Magic Johnson. If your name was Earvin, you'd probably change it to Magic too.

Wylei exists because Corey Parker decreed it so: He gave his newborn son this variation of the classic surname more conventionally spelled Wylie or Wiley. The problem with the Wylei spelling is that it makes you think the name may have a different pronunciation, with an ay versus an ee sound at the end. This is one of those creative inspirations that will make the child's life more difficult for years to come.

The surname of the influential early Scottish inventor of logarithms could make an inspiring middle name choice for a mathematically inclined family.

Distinguished actor Hume Cronyn (who shared his father's name) put this unusual choice in the lexicon.