Is the Scottish spelling for Christina, Christian?

Question

This may be the oddest question asked for many a day, however, do Scottish bdm records spell Christina as Christian?  I have seen this very often but have never asked.

Comments

For a while I thought it was a simple typo or transcription error, but I have now encountered it a few times.

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There isn't really "the Scottish spelling" of any name, really; spelling was flexible, and it's more useful to think of _forms_ of names. In this case, it's not a "Scottish versus English" distinction, but an "older versus newer" one.

Withycombe's The Oxford Dictionary of Christian Names has an entry for Christian (m.), where she says "The name is found from about 1200, but has never been common in this country", and then refers one to the next entry, Christian(a) (f.), which says among other things, "The name Christian ... together with its Latin form Christiana (occasionally Christiania) are found from the end of the 12th C, and are rather commoner than Christina".

Answer 1

I have many females named Christian in my Scottish tree.  And a few who became Christina when they came to the United States.  I think there may even be a few who were baptized Christian and were later Christina in Scotland, these are more modern folk.  So I'd say the answer is yes.

Answer 2

You might like to read this

https://medievalscotland.org/scotnames/gaelicgiven/women/christian.shtml

Comments

Thanks, Marion.

Answer 3

Christian is a female name in Scotland.  My 8x great grandmother is a Christian.

Now in Germany it is a masculine name.  So I have several great x various numbers uncles with that name.

Comments

I'm so used to coming across females called Christian in my Scottish ancestry that I was really disconcerted to meet a male Christian in real life a couple of years ago

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It is like Laura or Laurie.  In England that can be a masculine name while in America is is generally a female name.  Of course Americans with English ancestry may have it that are males but they seem to be in the minority.  First time I met a male Laurie it threw me.  He explained it was a family name.

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My Scttish 3x Great-Grandmother has my favourite name: Christian Duguid

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Laura, the male version is simply a diminutive of Lawrence or Laurence, whether or not the person was given the full name.

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Love it, Caren.

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Thanks for your comment, Sheena.  That's why I asked the question. The ladies of my family who were name Christian all went by Christina as their name, even those active in church life.

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Laura, I don't think I've ever seen Laura as a masculine name. Laurie is (or was) masculine, originating as a diminutive of Laurence.

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I haven't come across Laura as a masculine name but, having grown up reading Little Women, tend to assume that Laurie is male! (showing my age here)

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I met one.  And it surprised me too.  Like I said he said it was a family name.  He was British from London area. His father was an executive with an international company.  And they moved here in the middle of the USA for about 3 years.