Biography

Ian was in the group of young and rising scholars who were recruited to the School of Scottish Studies in the 1960s, following the founding and formative first decade of the department, which began in the academic session 1951-52.

Born into a family based in Gairloch and Strontian, Ian was a native Gaelic speaker when he came to the University of Edinburgh as a student in geography, a subject which was crucial to his interest and life's work in onomastics - name studies - and particularly place names.

On his appointment to the School, he worked with Dr W F H (Bill) Nicolaisen in developing the methodology and analysis of name studies, carrying out extensive fieldwork and recording, creating the School's Place-Name Survey, and fostering the subject in Scotland and beyond through local talks, publications and conferences. He introduced the subject as a component of the new undergraduate degree in Scottish Ethnology and was an encouraging supervisor of postgraduate students. He played a major role in the creation and development of the Scottish Society of Northern Studies and the Scottish Place-Name Society.

It has been said that the foundation of the School of Scottish Studies, benefitting as it did from models and collegial support from Ireland and Sweden, had "friendship at the core". This was a concept which Ian Fraser exemplified to the full in all his interactions. Tobar an Dualchais currently hosts over 500 recordings made by Ian.