Sources

Stonehaven (No Gaelic name obtainable) / Mr Diack noted his inability to find any Gaelic name for Stonehaven. On general principles the Gaelic to be expected would be Inner-harron (Invercarron); but in Braemar they used the Sc. name Steenhyve. The second part of the latter name, it may be pointed out, is not ‘haven,’ but corresponds to English hythe, a boat shore. There remains, however, another name for Stonehaven which is undoubtedly Gaelic, which is seldom seen in print but is well enough known locally, and that is Kilwhang. (The conjecture might be allowable that Kilwhang may represent cill chumang, ‘narrow church; and alongside that suggestion may be placed the known facts regarding the old church of Fetteresso, which was an unusually long building-JM [this is John Macdonald]: Diack Inscriptions of Pictland, 185

Cala-nan-Clach: Eachdraidh a’ Phrionnsa, 1906, 9
Caladh nan Clach: Dwelly [This form likely taken from the above]

Craig Ma Cair:

“Some of the most striking incidents of that crude time were woven by the Bishop into a little tale which he entitled “The Prisoners of Craigmacaire,” the Gaelic rendering of the name, Stonehaven.” A Memoir of Alexander, Bishop of Brechin, 1876, 11

The hamlet at the mouth of the Carron took its descriptive title from a mass of sandstone that once blocked the entrance to the harbour, called Craig-ma-cair* [* Either from cathiar [sic] (th being mute), a chair or seat, or car a bend or turn. The same word also occurs in the name of a rock south of the town, Dunnacair Dun signifying a hill or fort] the rock of the seat or of the turn, meaning either in Gaelic, to which the word belongs. Hence the striking name Stonehaven, originally, in old Scotch, Stanehyve, the Haven or Harbour with the Stone in its throat, though this obstruction has been long since removed.: W. Jolly, The Life of John Duncan, Scotch Weaver and Botanist, 1883, 1-2

Craig-ma-Cair means “rock of the fort”. Our House was named after the huge rock that obstructed the Stonehaven Harbour entrance centuries ago. To ease entry into the harbour for larger vessels “craig-ma-cair” was blown up in 1812 by the civil engineer Robert Stevenson ( the grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson who wrote many books including “Kidnapped”). The remains of the huge rock can still be seen at low tide from your bedroom window – just behind the south breakwater. Craig-ma-cair website <http://www.britnett-carver2.co.uk/harbourbb/aboutus.html>

Craig-ma-cair (Wat), Creag nan Cathair, rock of the forts, was a large rock of sandstone in the sea, removed to make way for an enlarged harbour at Stonehaven: A. Watson, 2013, 284