New Post
Search
Help[Opinions] Scottish boy name for a literary character?
Hi all, I'm stuck on a name for a character in a story I'm writing. It's set in a world a couple of years in the future but society and technology is very much the same as the modern world, classical and more "dated" names are more common than modern or trendy names. Some of the names I have are:
Arlo
Blair
Callum
Iain
Keane
The character is Scottish, 22 years old and his surname is MacFie. He's actually a demon/hellhound-like entity from the underworld who serves and protects the main character (Helena).
Which name should I use or do you have any better suggestions?
Arlo
Blair
Callum
Iain
Keane
The character is Scottish, 22 years old and his surname is MacFie. He's actually a demon/hellhound-like entity from the underworld who serves and protects the main character (Helena).
Which name should I use or do you have any better suggestions?
Archived Thread - replies disabled
1
Replies
Well, you definitely should NOT use either Keane or Arlo if you want a "dated" or "classic" Scottish given name. There are no examples of a man or boy with either of those as a given name in the censuses of Scotland available at Ancestry.com (1841-1901). And Arlo is not really Scottish at all.
Blair, on the other hand, would work, as there definitely were men with Blair as a given name in Scotland in the 19th century censuses.
Blair was actually more common than Calum as a first name in Scotland in the 19th century -- and when the latter did occur, it was with the Calum spelling, the Callum spelling being almost nonexistent. Also, Ian was the spelling used in official records in Scotland in the 19th century, with Iain being almost completely absent in the census.
Blair, on the other hand, would work, as there definitely were men with Blair as a given name in Scotland in the 19th century censuses.
Blair was actually more common than Calum as a first name in Scotland in the 19th century -- and when the latter did occur, it was with the Calum spelling, the Callum spelling being almost nonexistent. Also, Ian was the spelling used in official records in Scotland in the 19th century, with Iain being almost completely absent in the census.
1