Music icons can be a great inspiration for baby names.
While many parents share the excitement of starting a family, they already need to start making tough decisions before the baby is even born. Deciding what to name your bouncing baby girl or boy can be a difficult task as there are so many beautiful names to choose from.
To make this decision a little bit easier, many parents choose to take inspiration from people they admire. Whether that be an actor, musician or film character, many names found in the 2025 list of Scotland’s most popular baby names have been found to have links to other well known Scots.
Using the National Record of Scotland’s data, guitarguitar has collated the most popular baby names in Scotland for boys and girls that are the same as prominent Scottish and Scotland-born musicians and producers. From the shortlist, the names Jack and Rose were seen to come out on top.
The most popular baby boy name in 2025 that has links to Scottish artists is Jack, with 200 being given the name last year. The name is shared with Glasgow-born singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jack Bruce.
Best known as the bassist and principal vocalist of Cream, Bruce is said to be one of the most influential bass guitarists of his generation. A popular name amongst Scottish parents, Jack ranked 13th overall in the 2025 Scotland names list.
Just falling into second place on the male musician shortlist is the name James. With 199 babies in Scotland recorded with the name in 2025, the name is shared with James Johnston from Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro.
James, along with his twin brother Ben and frontman Sam Neil, has been part of the group since it emerged from the Scottish alternative scene. Now headlining major festivals, Johnstone covers bass, vocals and songwriting for the band.
Also making it into the top five boy names were Lewis and Angus with over a hundred baby boys being given the respective names last year. On the other hand, fewer girls’ names were found to have links to Scottish musicians from the 2025 data.
With a total of 58 recorded names, Rose topped the list for girl names. Shared with Glasgow musician Rose McDowall, she is best known for forming pop duo group Strawberry Switchblade. Along with being a singer-songwriter, McDowell is a multi-instrumentalist.
Taking the second spot is Evelyn, with 49 babies named in 2025. Linked to Dame Evelyn Glennie, she brings classical and orchestral music to a list that is otherwise dominated by pop, rock and folk.
The double Grammy winner was raised in Aberdeenshire and became the world’s first to sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist. Evelyn was closely followed by Annie – with links to Annie Lennox – and Elizabeth on the short list.
Marketing director of guitarguitar Adam Speck said: “Scotland has produced an extraordinary range of musicians, from international pop stars and rock guitarists to folk singers, composers and classical performers, and looking at their first names gives us an unexpected snapshot of how naming fashions have changed.
“Some names have moved seamlessly between generations. Jack and James remain among Scotland’s most popular choices for boys, while names such as Rose, Evelyn and Annie still feel completely at home on a modern baby-name list.”
He added: “But others show just how quickly fashions can change. It is remarkable that names connected with figures as famous as Mark Knopfler, Susan Boyle, Shirley Manson, Sheena Easton and Lulu can now be so unusual among newborns.”
The top 5 baby boy names shared with Scottish musicians
- Jack (200) – Jack Bruce
- James (199) – James Johnston from Biffy Clyro
- Lewis (151) – Lewis Capaldi
- Angus (112) – Angus Young from AC/DC
- George (88) – George Young from The Easybeats
- David (58) – David Bryne from Talking Heads
- John (50) – John McGeoch
- Ben (28) – Ben Johnston from Biffy Clyro
- Scott (23) – Scott Hutchison from Frightened Rabbit
- Calvin (22) – Calvin Harris
The top nine baby girl names shared with Scottish musicians
- Rose (58) – Rose McDowall
- Evelyn (49) – Dame Evelyn Glennie
- Annie (46) – Annie Lennox
- Elizabeth (38) – Elizabeth Fraser from Cocteau Twins
- Maggie (26) – Maggie Reilly
- Isobel (20) – Isobel Campbell
- Amy (17) – Amy Macdonald
- Rachel (10) – Rachel Sermanni
- Mairi (7) – Mairi Campbell
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