English / Map Form: Birnie
Gaelic Form: Braonaidh
Post Town: ELGIN
Postcode area: IV30
County: Moray
Local Authority: Moray
English / Map Form: Birnie
Gaelic Form: Braonaidh
Sources
Braonaidh: Diack Place-names of Pictland, II, 167
Braonaigh: Watson in Diack
Birnie in Morayshire is ‘Brennach’ before 1200, which is simply G. braonach, a moist place; the dative-locative is braonaigh, which becomes Birnie in Scots by the usual metathesis. Watson 1926, 189
“Brennach, therefore, may safely be taken to represent Braonach, locative Braonaigh, whence in modern Scots vernacular Birnie, meaning ‘(at) damp place’”: Watson Topographical Varia, 1913