Irish and Scottish names often shift across records because clerks, ministers, census takers, immigration officers, and family members wrote names in different ways. This checklist helps you compare spellings, surnames, places, and family clues before you search Irish and Scottish records.
Use this page as a quick doorway into the main genealogy tools on Irish Scottish Roots. Start with your family names, then move toward counties, parishes, townlands, burghs, archives, and original records.
Irish and Scottish Names Checklist
- Write down every known spelling of the surname.
- Record nicknames, middle names, patronymics, maiden names, and married names.
- Note the most specific place connected to the family: county, parish, townland, village, burgh, or district.
- Check whether the name appears differently in birth, marriage, death, census, church, military, land, or immigration records.
- Keep a short source note for each spelling so you know where the version came from.
Start Here
Irish and Scottish Genealogy Starter Checklist
Use this first if you are organizing names, dates, places, and family clues.
Irish and Scottish County Checklist
Use this when you know or suspect a county and want to connect names to place.
Ireland Genealogy Resources
Use this guide for Irish civil records, census records, parish registers, land records, and townland research.
Scotland Genealogy Resources
Use this guide for Scottish statutory records, census returns, church records, valuation rolls, wills, and parish research.
Free Irish and Scottish Genealogy Resources
Use this page to find helpful archives, maps, record collections, and research tools.
Continue Your Irish Scottish Roots Journey
Once you have a working list of names and spelling variants, move to the main journey page for a broader research path.