Scottish Place Names
- Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

For comparability with other cities around the world, Regina has been defined as the City of Regina itself together with some of the nearby communities in the Rural Municipalities of Sherwood and Edenwold which are fast becoming commuter suburbs. The area included within this definition extends from Waskana in the west to White City and Balgonie in the east and from Albatross and North Regina Industrial Park in the north to Rowatt in the south. Of the names of the 144 communities and neighbourhoods that have been identified to date in the Greater Regina area, 28(19.4%) can be found in Scotland or are based on Scottish family names. Of course, some of the names are used in other parts of the British Isles as well but at least 20 of them (13.9%) appear to have a definite or highly probable Scottish origin.

The illustration here is of the Regina skyline at dusk and the graphic is via Wikimedia Commons

Communities, neighbourhoods and subdivisions with names that occur only in Scotland and not elsewhere in the British Isles, and/or are definitely, or most probably, of Scottish origin are:

As in other cities around the world, not all of the above place names are necessarily based directly on their namesakes in Scotland. The connection with Scotland may be more indirect in some instances, for example, honouring individuals whose ancestry may have been Scottish. Examples where this could be the case would be gratefully received from readers in Regina, for incorporation in future updates of this web page.

Other neighbourhoods and subdivisions with names that can be found in Scotland but that are not unique to Scotland are:

Argyle Street Scottish influences on the development of Saskatchewan's capital city (which was founded as recently as 1882) are clearly evident in the names of many of its streets, parks and sports centres. Several thoroughfares and other main roads have Scottish sounding names. These are: Angus Road, Argyle Road (Lakeview South), Argyle Street North (Coronation Park and Argyle Park), Armour Grid Road, Bell Street, Dalgliesh Drive, Douglas Avenue and Road (both in Assiniboia East), Edinburgh Drive, Elphinstone Street, Gordon Road (Albert Park), Graham Road (Glencairn Village), Grant Drive and Road (both in Whitmore Park), Henderson Drive (Ross Industrial Park), MacPherson Avenue (Hillsdale), McAra Street, McDonald Street, McIntosh Street, McKinley Avenue and McMurchy Avenue. The picture shows Argyle Street in Glasgow.

Firth of Lorne The names of many ordinary streets throughout the city also have Scottish names. These are particularly numerous in the city centre, the Cathedral Area to its west and Broders Annex to its east. Of the 44 streets running from north to south within this central area, starting with Pasqua Street in the west and ending with Francis Street in the east, at least 16 (36%) bear Scottish names. From west to east one finds McTavish Street, Argyle Street, Elphinstone Street (major thoroughfare), Athol Street, Cameron Street, Rae Street, Angus Street, McIntyre Street, Lorne Street (that's the Firth of Lorne in Argyll shown here), Hamilton Street, Wallace Street, Elliott Street, Lindsay Street, McDonald Street (main road), McAra Street (main road) and MacKay Street. The other names in this particular series of streets are either English or Cornish (e.g., Retallack, Cornwall, Scarff and Atkinson) or honour Canadian capital cities or royalty. The Scottish theme is by far the most evident, however.

Curling Parks include Argyle Park (Lakeview South), Douglas Park (Douglas Place), Glencairn Village Park (Glencairn Village), Grant Road Park (Whitmore Park), Leslie Park (part of the Regina Exhibition Park complex), McMurchy Park (Coronation Park), Richardson Park (Whitmore Park), Sheppard Park, Transcona Playground, Wilfrid Walker Park (Gardiner Park) and A.E. Wilson Park (Mount Royal). Sports venues include the Al Ritchie Memorial Arena, Caledonian Curling Club on Sandra Schmirler Way, Currie Field Ball Diamond, Highland Curling Club, Jack Hamilton Arena, Leslie Lawn Bowling Greens, Murray Balfour Arena in Massey Park, Scotty Livingston Field Ball Diamond and Tartan Curling Rink. In addition, two of the 12 golf courses in Regina have Scottish names: Craig Golf Course and Murray Golf Course and there is also a Maxwell's Amusements centre at the eastern end of Victoria Avenue. Civic Buildings with Scottish sounding names include the Dunlop Art Gallery, MacKenzie Art Gallery, T. C. Douglas Building and Walter Scott Building, while nearly 20% of the 78 public, private and separate schools in Regina appear to have Scottish names (Campbell, Cochrane, MacNeill, Scott and St Andrew among ten others). It can be concluded, from the above analysis, that Scottish settlers and administrators certainly left their mark on Regina.

Acknowledgements:

© Ian Kendall
Melbourne, Australia, November 2005

If you wish to contact Ian about his research, his e-mail address is ian.kendall1@bigpond.com.



Use the "Back" button on your browser or click here to return to the Index of Scottish Place Names


Where else would you like to go in Scotland?


Separator line