"What's a good name for a medieval Scottish person?" you must answer six questions about the person who is being named:

1. What gender is the person?
2. Exactly when does the person live?
3. Exactly where in Scotland does the person live?
4. To which class or social grouping does the person belong?
5. To which Scottish culture does the person belong?
6. What Scottish language(s) does the person speak?

And in order to determine the forms someone's name could take in particular circumstances, three more questions must be answered:

7. In what language is the name being used?
8. In what context is the name being used?
9. Who is using the name? (Usually a different person from the one who is being named.)

What follows are some very general observations about Scottish medieval naming practices, but it is beyond the scope of this article to exhaustively explain any given specific naming culture or practice