Flodday Explained

There are many small islands in Scotland called Flodday (Scots Gaelic: Flodaigh) or similar and this list provides a guide to their location. The derivation of the name is from the Old Norse floti meaning "raft" or "float".^[1] The similar island names Fladda and Flotta are also from the Norse flatr and mean "flat island".^[2] Usage is not always consistent in external sources.

Outer Hebrides

Lewis near Great Bernera/Beàrnaraigh

• Flodaigh, Lewis, in inner Loch Roag, Lewis, opposite the hamlet of Cairisiadar.
• Flodaigh, Outer Loch Ròg, in outer Loch Roag, west of the islet of Hairsgeir and south of Bearasaigh.

Harris

• Fladday, between Scarp and Harris.

North Uist

• Flodday, Loch Maddy, in Loch Maddy
• Flodaigh Beag (Floddaybeg) (the Gaelic meaning is "small raft island") south east of North Uist.
• Flodaigh Mòr (Floddaymore) (the Gaelic meaning is "big raft island"), south east of North Uist.

Benbecula

• Flodaigh (also referred to as "Flodda"^[3]), a tidal island to the north of Benbecula.

Barra

• Flodday, Sound of Barra, which lies east of Fuiay/Fuidheigh to the north east of Barra.
• Flodday near Vatersay, one mile west of Sandray in the Bishop's Isles south of Barra.

Inner Hebrides

• Eilean Fladday, on the north west coast of Raasay, just north of Arnish.
• Fladda, Slate Islands, an islet with a lighthouse south east of Belnahua in the Slate Islands.
• Fladda, Treshnish Isles in the Treshnish Isles.
• Staffin Island off the east coast of the Trotternish peninsula of Skye may have been known as Fladdaidh.^[4]
• Fladda-chùain ('flat island of The Minch'), an island north of the Trotternish peninsula, Skye.

Orkney

• Flotta, an island in Scapa Flow, Orkney.
• Calf of Flotta, an island also in Scapa Flow, near Flotta.

Shetland

• Flotta, an island in Weisdale Voe.
• Fladda, an island north of the entrance to Hamna Voe, near the island of Muckle Ossa.
• Fladda, an island north of the Mainland in the Ramna Stacks near the island of Gruney.

Main references

• • 1:50,000. Ordnance Survey.

Footnotes

1. Web site: Placenames . Iain Mac an Tàilleir . Pàrlamaid na h-Alba . 23 July 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080410210611/http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/language/gaelic/pdfs/placenamesF-J.pdf . 10 April 2008 .
2. http://www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/pl-root.htm Orkney placenames
3. General Register Office for Scotland (28 November 2003) Occasional Paper No 10: Statistics for Inhabited Islands . Retrieved 22 Jan 2011.
4. http://www.staffin.net/data/placenames/Fladdaidh%20Stenscholl/index.htm "Fladdaidh"