From Dull to Rum: 17 weird Scottish place names and their origins

Picture: Wikimedia

From Brokenwind to Hell, Dull and Hothole, these place names were often derived through humour, legend and hardship. Here we look at a selection of Scotland’s oddest place names - and how they came about.

Brokenwind was a farm settlement near Kinmudy in 19th Century Aberdeenshire. Its name evolved over several decades having earlier been listed as Brokenwine and Brocken Weind.

Coup-My-Horn is derived from tipping a horn to have drink. According to the Fife Place Name data site, the name was perhaps applied humorously to a settlement where the occupants were especially partial to taking a drink.

The rather foreboding names of Hell and Purgatory were given to farms in Sanday, Orkney with farmers routinely giving such names to hard-to-work land.

Kirkcudbright is a name of Gaelic origin, although the first part Kirk- appears to be borrowing into Gaelic from either Scots kirk or Norse kirkja both meaning church. The second part reflects Cuthbert, a Northumbrian saint.

Muttonhall near Kirkcaldy appeared on maps until the 1960s and is a good example of locals having a poke at pretention by twinning an ordinary word such as mutton with hall, which typically meant a high-status residence.

Hells Kitchen near Dunfermline, Fife was described in the 1700s as small row of colliers houses in bad repair. It is believed both Hells Kitchen and Hothole refer to the coal mines in the area which would often catch fire.

The name of this Inner Hebridean island is derived from the Gaelic for isle of the ridge but there have also been suggestions it is Old Norse for wide island.