Eilean Siar, Scotland : Place names

Names from historical writing:

The following appear as names for Eilean Siar. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
HEBRIDES F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
HEBRIDES OR WESTERN ISLANDS F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
HEBRIDES THE OR WESTERN ISLANDS John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
LONG ISLAND John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
LONG ISLAND THE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
THE LONG ISLAND John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
WESTERNE ILANDS William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
WESTERNE ISLES William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
WESTERN ISLANDS F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.

    • Names for administrative units:

    These names were used for units associated with Eilean Siar. Click on the links for details of the units and their names:

    Name Unit Type Source
    00RJ District/Unitary Authority Census of Population (2001 Key Statistics)
    COMHAIRLE NAN EILEAN SIAR District/Unitary Authority Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland (Information Paper: Local government area boundaries in Scotland: 1995 onwards)
    CROMARTY WESTERN ISLES Constituency (PDivCon) Richard H.A. Cheffins, Parliamentary Constituencies and their registers since 1832 (London: The British Library, 1998)
    EILEAN SIAR District/Unitary Authority Census of Population (2001 Key Statistics)
    Nuts Unit Level 3 Office for National Statistics, Open Geography Portal (NUTS, level 3 (January 2018) Boundaries UK)
    INVERNESS SHIRE AND ROSS AND CROMARTY WESTERN ISLES Constituency (PDivCon) Richard H.A. Cheffins, Parliamentary Constituencies and their registers since 1832 (London: The British Library, 1998)
    Constituency (CCon) F.W.S. Craig (ed.), British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1970 (Chichester: Political Reference Publications, 1971)
    LONG ISLAND Scottish Poor Law Combination Higginbotham, History of the Workhouse
    NA H EILEANAN AN IAR Constituency (CCon) Fifth Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland (p44-47)
    District/Unitary Authority Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland (Information Paper: Local government area boundaries in Scotland: 1995 onwards)
    NA H EILEANAN AN LAR Constituency (CCon)
    NA H EILEANAN SIAR District/Unitary Authority Office for National Statistics, Open Geography Portal (Local Authority Districts (December 2024) Names and Codes in the UK)
    Nuts Unit Level 3 Office for National Statistics, Open Geography Portal (NUTS, level 3 (January 2018) Boundaries UK)
    S14000027 Constituency (CCon) House of Commons Library, Boundary review 2023: Which seats will change in the UK?
    Constituency (CCon) House of Commons Library, Boundary review 2023: Which seats will change in the UK?
    UKM64 Nuts Unit Level 3 Office for National Statistics, Open Geography Portal (NUTS, level 3 (January 2018) Boundaries UK)
    WESTERN ISLES Constituency (CCon) Richard H.A. Cheffins, Parliamentary Constituencies and their registers since 1832 (London: The British Library, 1998)
    District/Unitary Authority Census of Population (2001 Key Statistics)
    Nuts Unit Level 3 Office for National Statistics, Open Geography Portal (NUTS, level 3 (January 2018) Boundaries UK)
    WESTERN ISLES COUNCIL District/Unitary Authority Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland (Information Paper: Local government area boundaries in Scotland: 1995 onwards)

    NB: These are all the names of all the administrative units which we have associated with Eilean Siar, and you must judge whether all or even any of them are variant names for the place. They may well include the names of other locations or areas:

    • For cities, the associated administrative units will usually include parishes, especially ecclesiastical parishes, one of whose names is the name of the city followed by a saint's dedication, with just the saint's name as another variant. Parish names will sometimes also include "places" within towns.
    • Districts usually contain more than one settlement, and some districts had their names changed to take the name of a completely different settlement. As we link each administrative unit to just one of our "places", usually the last place the unit was named after, in these cases the name for a completely different place will appear on this page.
    • Similarly, a unit may sometimes be named after a particular settlement it contains and sometimes to indicate its location within a higher level unit. This was very common among British parliamentary constituencies in rural areas, one name referring to their main town and another indicating that they were in, say, the southern part of the relevant county.

    Every name listed here is linked to the particular historical source in which it appears, but we cannot claim that these are all the historical names of Eilean Siar, or that our references are to the first usage of the names. Similarly, we have tried to ensure that names included here are not transcription errors by ourselves, but it is possible they are the result of errors made when the historical sources were printed, or the result of visiting authors or census officials mis-hearing local names.