Name of the Week: Hamish

 

Origin:

Hamish is an anglicised form of Seumas – the Scots Gaelic form of James – which is, itself, the anglicised form of Jacob (Latin Jacobus / Hebrew Ya'aqov).  Seumas is pronounced SHAY-məs. Given that James was pronounced with two syllables during the Middle Ages, and Gaelic does not have the letter J, we can see a clear transition from one to the other.  Strictly, Hamish is actually the anglicised spelling of Sheumais – the vocative form of Seumas. In Scots Gaelic, Sheumais is pronounced HAY-mish as we can hear in the Scots Gaelic names for Jamestown and James River in Canada (audio in link).

Origin:

James has been in use in Britain from at least the 12th century. It was initially in infrequent use in England, but caught on quicker in Scotland, where it was borne by several Scottish Kings. The first King James was born in 1394 and from him was a continual succession of monarchs named James in Scotland up until King James V (1512–1542). His grandson, James VI (1567–1625), then became James I of England. King James I and his successors were known by the Scots Gaelic form, Seumas, in Scotland. While names don't change with case in the English language, they do in Gaelic, and so Seumas becomes Sheumais when the sentence is in the vocative case. This can be seen, for example, in the title of the Jacobite poem Do dh'Arm Righ Sheumais ("To King James' army"). Once rendered into English however, Hamish became a "fixed" form. Hamish was itself adopted in Scotland with the development of Scottish English in the 18th century. From the time of the Union of Parliaments in 1707, the official written language of Scotland became English. Standard English was therefore used as the language of government, religion and education and became adopted by the aspiring middle classes for social prestige.* Sir Walter Scott used the name Hamish for one of his characters in Chronicles of Canongate (1827), and William Black (1841-1898) used the name several times in his novels. The most notable is Macleod of Dare, published in 1878 (and reprinted in 1883), which was the inspiration for the poem The Revenge of Hamish by American poet Sidney Lanier in 1878. Black's novels were incredibly popular in their day, so it seems little coincidence that this is same period that Hamish grew in use across Britain.  The name Hamish was rare in Scotland in the early part of the 19th century. It was marginally more frequent in England and Wales -- perhaps used as an anglicised Scottish family heritage choice -- but it was still very uncommon. After the 1880s, most likely thanks to Black's popular novels, the name took off in Scotland, and grew slowly in England and Wales as birth registrations show:   Scotland England and Wales 1860s: 1870s: 1880s: 1890s: 1900s: 1910s: 1920s: 1930s:  1940s: 0 births 0 births 1 birth 29 births 40 births 87 births 240 births 380 births 591 births 6 births 4 births 9 births 13 births 15 births 21 births 38 births 78 births 147 births Though it did not rank in 1900, Hamish was in Scotland's top 100 in 1950 at #86 but had fallen out again by the next point of data in 1975. From 1975 to 1995, Hamish consistently ranked between #107-#185 in Scotland. It reached #87 (74 births) in 1996, but them fell just below the top 100 again until 2003. For the next decade, Hamish steadily bobbed just above and below #100 each year (peak year: #90 (67 births) in 2004; lowest point: #113 (62 births) in 2008). In the last few years, Hamish has seen a rise in Scotland, reaching #81 (84 births) in 2015 and #57 (117 births) in 2016.  In England and Wales, Hamish is much less common. Since 1996, it has remained consistently below the top 200, but always within the top 500. It peaked at #222 (138 births) in 1998, and was at its lowest at #481 (74 births) in 2010.  In 2015, Hamish ranked #399 with 106 births.  In Australia however, where Scottish names have a long history of use, Hamish has been well used, ranking in the top 100 in South Australia since 1994.*

Famous Bearers:

History:  * Hamish MacCunn (1868–1916), Scottish composer, conductor and music teacher. Contemporary: * Hamish Imlach (born 1940), Scottish folk singer. * Hamish McAlpine (born 1948), Scottish footballer. * Hamish Stuart (born 1949), lead singer of Average White Band. * Hamish Bowles (born 1963), European Editor-at-Large for Vogue. * Hamish Clark (born 1965), Scottish actor. * Hamish Carter (born 1971), New Zealand triathlete and Olympic gold medalist. * Hamish Blake (born 1981), Australian comedian and radio presenter. Literature and Other Media: * John Hamish Watson, Sherlock Holmes's closest companion in Conan Doyle's classic detective series. * Hamish Macbeth, detective in series of novels and television adaptation starring Robert Carlyle as the eponymous hero. * Hamish MacLeod, a character in the Ian Rutledge novels by Caroline and Charles Todd. * Hamish and Dougal, comedy characters from Radio 4 series I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

Variants:

Seumas

Pronunciation:

HAY-mish [key]

Possible diminutives:

Hay, Haymie, Mitch, Hitch

Sibling Names:

Bonnie     Iona     Alexandra     Ailsa     Flora     Honor  Angus     Hugo     Barnaby     Fergus     Murray     Fraser

Name Lists:

Clunky Celtic

 

If you like Hamish you may also like:   Hector, Alistair, Doolish, Calvin, Douglas, Duncan, Harris, Lyle, Tavish, Kit

Thanks to Chamali for requesting this name.