Other Names

The city is affectionately nicknamed “Auld Reekie", Lowland Scots for “Old Smoky".

Some have called Edinburgh the “Athens of the North” for a variety of reasons. The earliest comparison between the two cities showed that they had a similar topography, with the Old Town of Edinburgh performing a similar role to the Acropolis. Both of them had flatter, fertile agricultural land sloping down to a port several miles away. Although this arrangement is common in Southern Europe, it is rare in Northern Europe. The 18th century intellectual life, sometimes referred to as the Scottish Enlightenment, was a key influence in gaining the name.

Such beacons as David Hume and Adam Smith shone during this period. Having lost its political importance, some hoped that Edinburgh could gain a similar civilising influence on London as Athens had on Rome. Also a contributing factor was the later neoclassical architecture, particularly that of William Henry Playfair, and the National Monument (see below). One writer has said, facetiously, that the “Reykjavík of the South” would be more appropriate!

Edinburgh has also been known as “Dunedin", deriving from the Scottish Gaelic, Dùn Èideann. Dunedin, New Zealand, was originally called “New Edinburgh” and is still nicknamed the “Edinburgh of the South".

The Scots poets Robert Burns and Robert Fergusson sometimes referred to the city as “Edina” in their work. Ben Johnson described it as “Britaine’s other eye", and Sir Walter Scott referred to the City as “yon Empress of the North".

Some Scots refer to the city affectionately and informally as “Embra".