English / Map Form: Peterhead
Gaelic Form: Ceann Phàdraig
Location: Aberdeenshire
Post Town: PETERHEAD
Postcode area: AB42
County: Aberdeenshire
Local Authority: Aberdeenshire
English / Map Form: Peterhead
Gaelic Form: Ceann Phàdraig
Language Notes
Element Meaning
G ceann ~ head, end; Pàdraig ~ Peter
Sources
| Inuerugy Petri | 1274 Reg Epis Aberdon, ii, pp 52, 56 |
| Pettirugy | 1495 Book of Deer p xii [?] |
| Petyrheid | 1544 Ill. Top. Antiq. Aberd., iv, p. 20 |
| Peeterhead | c. 1591 Pont text 82v |
| Ceann Phàdraig | Oran na Gasaid, poem by Duncan Ban MacIntyre |
| kyãun fa: drig | N Dorian (Golspie fisherfolk informants) |
| Ceanna Phàdraig | Saoghal Bana-mharaiche |
Additional Information
There is a strong suspicion that Duncan Ban MacIntyre coined the term Ceann Phàdraig from the ScEng form Peterhead. Old forms show the name was probably once Inbhir Uigidh or the like. One would not expect head, here in the sense of promontory, to be translated as ceann