Irish and Scottish surname names

I normally hate the whole surname-as-first-name thing, but I’ve surprised myself by finding several Irish/Scottish surname names which I actually like recently. They tend to have a lovely bouncy, musical sound and some great nickname options.

A few I like are:

[name_m]Finnegan[/name_m] “[name_u]Finn[/name_u]” (love this one!)
[name_u]Sullivan[/name_u] “[name_u]Sully[/name_u]”
[name_m]Calloway[/name_m] “[name_u]Cal[/name_u]”
[name_m]Callahan[/name_m] “[name_u]Cal[/name_u]”
[name_m]Montgomery[/name_m] “[name_m]Monty[/name_m]”
[name_m]Buchanan[/name_m]
[name_m]Galloway[/name_m]

I’d appreciate any comments or insights on these names, as well as nickname suggestions for the final two or suggestions for other similar names I might like.

Thanks!

[name_m]Branigan[/name_m], [name_m]Calhoun[/name_m], [name_m]Creighton[/name_m], [name_m]Donahue[/name_m], [name_m]Rafferty[/name_m], [name_m]Gallagher[/name_m], [name_m]Maguire[/name_m], [name_m]Donovan[/name_m] (I’ve always looooved [name_m]Donovan[/name_m]!)

I absolutely love [name_m]Finnegan[/name_m] and [name_u]Sullivan[/name_u]

[name_m]Buchanan[/name_m]; perhaps [name_m]Butch[/name_m], [name_m]Bucky[/name_m] or [name_u]Channing[/name_u]. Though I personally don’t like any as nn options.
[name_m]Galloway[/name_m]; maybe Gally, Low, [name_m]Al[/name_m]. Not sure i’d be jumping to use any of these myself either, they all seem a bit clunky and unattractive [name_f]IMO[/name_f].
My personal favorite from you list is [name_m]Calloway[/name_m]. Very handsome and I would love to meet a little [name_u]Cal[/name_u]. I also love the suggestion of [name_m]Rafferty[/name_m]. I love [name_u]Rafe[/name_u] and [name_m]Raffy[/name_m] as nn’s. Very cute!

[name_m]Finnegan[/name_m] “[name_u]Finn[/name_u]” is lovely! I quite like [name_u]Sullivan[/name_u] “[name_u]Sully[/name_u]” but the Monsters Inc association does get in my mind a little. [name_m]Callahan[/name_m] “[name_u]Cal[/name_u]” and [name_m]Montgomery[/name_m] “[name_m]Monty[/name_m]” are nice too.

[name_m]How[/name_m] about [name_m]Ramsey[/name_m]? Its our favourite boys choice at the moment!

Buchanan is gorgeous! I like Bo/Beau as a nn

Calloway is also great. I prefer the spelling Callaghan over Callahan

Other similar names:
Curran
Fitzgerald / Fitzhugh / Fitzroy - “Fitz”
Larkin
Redmond
Brannigan “Bran”
Tiernan
Campbell
Connolly “Conn”
Boyd
Flannery
Kiernan
Murphy
O’Brien “Obie”
Kelly
Keating
Reilly
Slattery
Kavanagh
Foley
Tobin
Jameson
Barrett
Hennessy
Townsend

[name_u]Love[/name_u] [name_u]Sullivan[/name_u] and the nickname sully. [name_u]Unique[/name_u], yet classy!

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions everyone!

I agree that nicknames are tricky for [name_m]Buchanan[/name_m] and [name_m]Galloway[/name_m], but I do love the suggestion of [name_u]Bo[/name_u]/[name_u]Beau[/name_u] for [name_m]Buchanan[/name_m].

I’m loving some of the suggestions, in particular [name_m]Branigan[/name_m], [name_m]Rafferty[/name_m], [name_u]Tobin[/name_u] and [name_u]Larkin[/name_u]. [name_m]Raffy[/name_m]/[name_m]Raff[/name_m] and [name_u]Toby[/name_u] are such sweet nns too!

I really love [name_u]Sullivan[/name_u] nn [name_u]Sully[/name_u]!

[name_m]Fraser[/name_m]! It’s a Scottish clan. And I like [name_m]Keller[/name_m] too and think it sounds Irish, though it’s actually [name_m]German[/name_m].

I like [name_m]Callahan[/name_m] and [name_u]Finn[/name_u] is nice but not a fan of [name_m]Finnegan[/name_m].

[name_m]Calloway[/name_m] reminds me too much of the golf brand. I think the last three on your list sound a bit preppy/country club/snooty.