Scottish and Irish Gaelic, "great".

Mòr was a very popular female forename in medieval Ireland and somewhat less so in Scotland.

We have received this note regarding the interchangeability of Sarah and Mòr:

'My g-g-grandmother is "Sarrah McD-" in her 1858 marriage entry and "Mòr McD-" in the church banns. In the birth registration of her children she is "Mòr" for the first child, "Sally" for the second, and "Sarah" thereafter.'

There are cases of Mòr being Anglicised as either Marion or Sarah and the use has been found to be fully synonymous, especially in the north.

Note: Mòr can be used as a qualifier with male Forenames, e.g 'Eoghan Mòr', to mean either 'Hugh the elder' or 'Hugh the large'. With the latter meaning it is akin to the Tee-names of the N E Scottish coastal areas, particularly around Portoy, Cullen and Buckie [see FAQ #12]. In this usage Mòr is, however, purely descriptive [a masculine adjective] and not a forename as such. It is therefore unlikely to occur in official documents as a given name wheras Tee-names are frequently found. The feminine form, Mhòr, may be used in the same way, e.g. 'Màiri Mhòr'.