Have you noticed that few of our Scottish ancestors actually carried "Scottish" given names? Surviving records reveal that in recent centuries one in every two Scottish males was names: John, James or William while a similar proportion of females were named: Mary, Margaret, And or Jane/Jean. Of course, many of these "English" names had Scottish variants or diminutives that were used in common parlance. To assist researchers in tracing their Scottish ancestors, this Handy Guide explores Scottish given names in use between the mid-1500s and the early 1900s. Each name lists spelling variants as well as diminutives and abbreviations.