Trifter

Aboyne

Derives from the Gaelic words ath (meaning ford) and boinne (meaning rippling water).

Anstruther

The name derives from the Gaelic an sruthair which means ‘little stream’. Locally the town is actually known as ‘Ainster’.

Ayr

Situated only 2 miles from the place of Robert Burns’s birth. Ayr took its name straight from the River Ayr, on whose mouth the town was built.

Bathgate

Don’t be fooled, this name does not derive from either ‘bath’ or ‘gate’. The name is actually Brythonic in nature and comes from baedd coed which means ‘boar wood’.

Bishopbriggs

The name derives from land given to the Bishop of Glasgow although there is some debate whether the ‘briggs’ ending came from briggs (Scots word for bridges) or riggs (Scots word for fields).

Bo’ness

Former major port and town in West Lothian on the Firth of Forth. The name derives from an Old English first name Beornweard.

Carluke

The first part of the name derives from the Brythonic caer meaning ‘fort’ but it is unclear what luke means (although it is unlikely to have any reference to the biblical Saint Luke).

Coldstream

Famed for the Coldstream Guards (a regiment of the Household Division of the British Army). The name is simply a reference to the temperature of the River Tweed. Enough said!

Dornoch

The Dornoch Firth is a sea inlet that separates Sutherland from Ross & Cromarty with Dornoch on its north shore. The name derives from the Gaelic dornach, meaning ‘pebbles’.

Duns

The town motto is ‘Duns Ding’, which means ‘Duns beats all’. The peoples of Duns are known as ‘Dingers’. The name derives from the Gaelic dun which means ‘fort on the hill’.

Ellon

The name derives from the Gaelic eilean which means ‘island’, this is in reference to the fact the town was built on a ford of the River Ythan.

Forres

For those of you who read Shakespeare, you will know that the location of King Duncan’s castle in Macbeth was in Forres. The name is said to come from the Gaelic Farrais which translates as ‘beneath the bushes’.

Girvan

In the days before cheap air travel to the Mediterranean, Girvan was the destination of choice for many Glaswegian holiday-makers. The name may derive from the Brythonic word gerw (which means ‘rough’).