Elgin

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Elgin, Moray (Scottish Gaelic: Eilginn) is a royal burgh and a former parliamentary burgh in Moray, Scotland. The origin of the name is obscure, but may be derived from Eilgín, "Little Ireland."^[1]

Elgin is known for the ruins of a cathedral, built in 1270 to replace an earlier cathedral destroyed by fire. It was destroyed in 1390 by Alexander Stewart, son of Robert II of Scotland. The Chapter House was rebuilt in the fifteenth century, but the entire complex has been in ruins since the Reformation.

The plan of this small town is much as it would have been in medieval times, with the main street running between the ruined cathedral and the castle site.

Many other places around the world are also called Elgin, though the pronunciation is often quite different; the Scottish pronunciation is "ELG-IN" as opposed to "EL-JIN". The largest municipality of the name is Elgin, Illinois, with a current population over 100,000.

Contents 1 Cities 1.1 Locations 2 Other uses 2.1 Companies 2.2 People 2.3 Groups 2.4 Things 3 References

[edit] Cities

Canada

• Elgin County, Ontario
• Elgin, Quebec

South Africa

• Elgin, Western Cape

United States

• Elgin, Alabama
• Elgin, Arizona
• Elgin, Illinois
• Elgin, Iowa
• Elgin, Kansas
• Elgin, Kershaw County, South Carolina
• Elgin, Lancaster County, South Carolina
• Elgin, Minnesota
• Elgin, Nebraska
• Elgin, Nevada
• Elgin, North Dakota
• Elgin, Ohio
• Elgin, Oklahoma
• Elgin, Oregon
• Elgin, Pennsylvania
• Elgin, Texas

[edit] Locations

• Elgin Bridge, Singapore a bridge spanning the Singapore river just before Boat Quay.
• Elgin Street, Hong Kong, a street in Central, Hong Kong

[edit] Other uses

[edit] Companies

• Elgin a division of the Federal Signal Corporation and maker of streetsweeper and road care equipment

[edit] People

• Elgin Baylor, former professional basketball player.
• Mike Elgin, offensive guard for the New England Patriots
• James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, Canadian governor.
• Suzette Elgin, science fiction author and linguist

[edit] Groups

• The Elgins: An early name used by the pre-David Ruffin era Temptations
• The Elgins: A Motown group active from 1962 — 1967
• The Elgin Theater, noted for showing midnight movies during the 1970s.
• Elgin National Watch Company
• The Elgin Sweeper Company, maker of street sweeping equipment.

[edit] Things

• Elginia, a turtle-like parareptile of the Late Permian period
• The Elgin Marbles, Greek bas-reliefs housed at the British Museum
• Elgin tablets, a name for a tablet (confectionery)

[edit] References

1. ^ W.J. Watson, History of the Celtic Placenames of Scotland, 1926 (reprinted 1993 by Birlinn, Edinburgh, ISBN 1 874744 06 8) pp. 231 [1]