Talk:Scottish surnames

A fact from Scottish surnames appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 12 September 2010 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the earliest Scottish surnames were already hereditary in England, before arriving in Scotland with Anglo-Norman settlers in the 12th century?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2010/September.

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Picture[edit]

I think we could use a picture of an old document, a charter or something, which shows a number of interesting names, preferably surnames that are similar enough to their modern form to be recognisable to most people. We could crop it or whatever. I tried finding a picture of a part of the Ragman Roll, but the ones I've seen are far too small to be interesting.--Brianann MacAmhlaidh (talk) 10:10, 1 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

References[edit]

I've tried to check out ref #1 to verify a DYK hook. Unfortunately, there is no full description of "Black (1946)" in the bibliography so I can't check it out. Wikiwayman (talk) 19:43, 9 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Whoops. I just added it in. The Surnames of Scotland.--Brianann MacAmhlaidh (talk) 04:34, 10 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Accuracy[edit]

From the 'Occupational names' section: "Many surnames are derived from the occupations, or trades, of their original bearers (for example, Shepherd, Mason, Dumpster, Baxter and Fletcher).[13]" - I tried to confirm this by going to citation number 13, but this leads to a "page not found" ... I have never heard the surname "dumpster" - is this vandalism or is it real? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.225.98.203 (talk) 10:27, 12 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Good thing you caught that. Here's an archived version of the reference[1]. An IP added Dempster and Baxter,[2] and and another IP changed the former to Dumpster[3].--Brianann MacAmhlaidh (talk) 00:26, 15 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Surnames as forenames[edit]

"In recent years, names that have been traditionally surnames have been used as given names, particularly in North America."

The US has taken some names up recently such as MacKenzie (which is rarely used in Scotland itself as a given name), but there are a number of surnames which have been in very common use as forenames in Scotland. Among these are Lindsay, Leslie, Gordon, Douglas, Graham etc. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.150.187.234 (talk) 17:13, 7 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Weasel Wording[edit]

"Scottish surnames are surnames currently found in Scotland"

This is an incredibly deceptive way of glossing over the fact that the vast majority of surnames in Scotland are simply English. The article in general seems hellbent on trying to ignore this fact and despite referencing Gaelic, Norse and 'Anglo-Norman' influences, completely ignores and makes no mention of English influence. An English name in Scotland doesn't stop being English anymore than an Arabic name in Scotland stops being Arabic. Unless you're going to try and make the ridiculous claim that names like 'Ibn-Malik' and 'Wicik' are now 'Scottish surnames', this article needs a serious rewrite. This is idiotic. Every single article related to Scotland is like this. 92.4.18.111 (talk) 11:57, 15 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]