Cameron
Cameron CMN SSL PS NO474116 1 363 160m
? (Robert of) Cambun 1172 x 1178 Barrow 1971, no. 2 and note [? for Cambrun or Camboc = Cambo KBS; Barrow suggests the latter, loc. cit.]
Cambrun 1198 x 1199 St A. Lib. 318 [Kernes (Cairns SSL) cum Cambrun]
? Kerin c.1220 Terrier E [17/18th c. copy; lands held by Culdees, listed between Lambieletham (Lethin) and Cairns (Kerneis); or is this Carron SSL?]
? (Sir John of) Cambrun 1260 St A. Lib. 346 [one of those acting for the earl of Buchan justiciar of Scotia in the case of Falletauch of Drumcarro CMN. Or is this Cameron MAI?]
? (Robert of) Cambrune 1282 HMC 5th Report p. 624 no. 4 [re Cassingray CBE]
Camerone 1452 x 1480 RMS ii no. 1444 col. 2 [St Andrews Church land; listed between Radernie (Raderny) CMN and Feddinch (Fedynche) CMN]
(lands of) Cammerone 1531 RMS iii no. 1045 [to David Monypenny of Kinkell SSL and Janet Morton (Myrtoun), in the regality of St Andrews]
terris de Cameron 1548 Retours (Fife) no. 17 [Thomas Monypenny of Kinkell]
Cameron c.1560 s Purves 154 [£1 10 s.]
terris de Camerone 1602 Retours (Fife) no. 117
landes of Camroun 1645 APS vi (part i), 332 [see CMN Introduction]
Cameron 1654 Blaeu (Gordon) Fife
Cameron 1753 Roy sheet 18, 1 [also shows Cameron Kirk]
Cameron 1775 Ainslie/Fife [also ‘Cameron Kirk and Manse’]
Cameron Cottown 1775 Ainslie/Fife
Kirkton of Cameron 1800 Cameron Parish Papers [also ‘Schoolhouse of Cameron’]
Cameron Cotton 1800 Cameron Parish Papers
Cameron Farm 1800 Cameron Parish Papers
Cameron 1855 OS 6 inch 1st edn
Pictish * cam or G cam + ? Pictish *brun/ * bren or ? G bruinne
‘Crooked hill’? The first element is G cam, or its Pictish cognate *cam (compare Welsh cam) ‘crooked, bent’. Whether it is G or Pictish depends on how the second element is interpreted. The underlying form would appear to be *brun, which, in respect of Cameron MLO (Cambrun 1264 × 1288) Norman Dixon would derive from an otherwise unrecorded G brun ‘hill’ cognate with Welsh bryn (1947, 238, 337). Since Cameron MLO (now a southern suburb of Edinburgh) is in British-speaking territory, it is more likely that it is in fact a British place-name. Cameron CMN (as well as Cameron MAI, with similar early forms) would then be its Pictish equivalent. There is, however, some evidence that the Pictish cognate of Welsh bryn was realised as *bren (see Burnturk KTT and Newburn). Alternatively, therefore, it could be a G name, the second element being G bruinne ‘chest, front, breast’, a secondary formation from G brù (f.), gen. bronn, dat. broinn, gen. pl. bronn (cf OIr brú, acc. broinn, gen. bronn), ‘belly’, referring to a rounded hill. A third possibility is that, while Pictish in origin, the forms with /u/ are the result of influence from a G element based on brù. Given the rarity of G brù, bruinne etc as a place-name element in Fife (appearing only in this name), the likelihood of Cameron being entirely Gaelic in origin is very slim.
The later development, both written and spoken, of all three place-names was no doubt influenced by the surname Cameron (G cam shròn ‘crooked nose’).
For the development of Cameron as a parish, see CMN Introduction. The kirk is at NO484116, built in 1808 replacing a seventeenth-century building.
/ˈkamərən/
This place-name appeared in printed volume 3