Scottish Town Name Generator

Scottish place names are a layer cake of four languages, and the first syllable usually tells you which. Gaelic gives the Highlands and west their Inver- (inbhir, river mouth: Inverness, Inveraray), Kil- (cill, church: Kilmarnock, Killin), Auch- (achadh, field: Auchterarder, Auchinleck), Bal- (baile, farm or township: Ballater, Balloch), Drum- (druim, ridge: Drumnadrochit), Dun- (dùn, fort: Dunoon, Dunvegan), Strath- (wide valley: Strathaven, Strathpeffer) and Glen- (narrow valley: Glencoe, Glenelg). The older Pictish tongue survives in Aber- (also a river mouth: Aberdeen, Aberfeldy) and Pit- (a share of land: Pitlochry, Pittenweem). Lowland Scots and Old English supply -burgh (Edinburgh, Musselburgh), -ton (Livingston, Stewarton), -haugh and -law, while the Norse who settled Caithness, Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides left -wick (bay: Lerwick, Wick), -ness (headland: Stromness), -bost and -dale (Helmsdale, Carbost).

The sound of a name also hints at its geography. Port-, Loch- and -haven mark harbours and fishing villages; Kirk-, Kil- and Bridge of mark old parish centres; Fort William is a military foundation; Grantown-on-Spey and Helensburgh are planned towns named for their founders.

The list is mostly real towns and villages from every council area, with a few invented names assembled from the same elements, so it works equally well for historical fiction, a cozy mystery set on the Moray coast or a fantasy map that wants an authentically Scottish ring.