Place Names

Place names within Meigle and Ardler and in the surrounding area appear to come from a variety of different linguistic origins and include some that combine different languages within the one name. The derivation of place names can be uncertain but we have tried to illustrate likely, or at least feasible, explanations of the origin of local names.

The oldest, pre-Celtic names across Britain relate to natural features, especially watercourses, and the river which makes the northern border of the old Meigle Parish is such a name, the Isla. The Dean Water may also come from the same ancient root as the River Don but this is less clear.

Meigle itself derives from the Pictish word mig, meaning a bog, and dol, a water-meadow. 

Cardean may derive from caer, which means fort in the Brittonice Celtic languages (such as Pictish). Though this could relate to the nearby Roman fort, the current settlement of Cardean was previously called Potento with Cardean being further to the east. West Cardean still exists to the east of the current Cardean with Easter Cardean being renamed as Simprim at the same time that Potento became Cardean. If it does derive from caer, this could be the Roman or another fortified feature. 

Other Pictish names are evident in other place names close to Meigle and Ardler, such as cuper in Coupar Angus, meaning a confluence, but the prefix pit or pett, as in Pitcur, was absorbed into Gaelic and so may not indicate a Pictish origin.

Ardler derives from the Gaelic words àrd (high) and làr (ground) and other Gaelic based place names abound within Meigle and Ardler. These include Drumkilbo (druim – ridge, with the origin of kilbo being unclear), Balmacron, Balmyle (baile – settlement), Glenlui (gleann – valley, laoigh - calves). Other place names could have these Gaelic derivations: Arnbog (earrann – portion, bog – soft/boggy), Craithes (crath – shaky), Camno (camadh – bending or winding, perhaps from the Camno Burn before it became a straightened drainage channel). These examples show that Gaelic must have been commonly spoken in the immediate area.

Some local place names come from Scots. Teuchat Muir by Ardler is clearly from teuchat, a lapwing, and muir, rough grazing. Langlogie and Nether Logie both include logie which can be associated with a church or religious site. Lang and Nether are Scots words for long and lower/under respectively and the loan in Loanhead is Scots for a track for cattle through arable land. 

Both Fullerton and Washington, the name for the planned village of Ardler, are family names. The Fullerton family name seems to come from the farm owned by the family east of Meigle village and the name seems likely to derive from wildfowling, with ton being the town or farmstead. Washington was named by George Kinloch, 'The Radical Laird', after George Washington, the name being the town of Wassa, which is an Old English proper name.

Other Scots place names in Meigle and Ardler include Blackfauld (a black sheep fold/enclosure), and Myreside (the side of a bog).