In the British Isles there's an island named St Kilda. What is the name of the saint they named it after?

Question

In the British Isles there's an island named St Kilda. What is the name of the saint they named it after?

Answer 1

Probably Kilda....

Answer 2

The is no known saint called Kilda. Most likely it came about due to a mistranslation of an older name.

There are a number of theories, Haswell-Smith notes that the full name St Kilda first appears on a Dutch map dated 1666, and that it may have been derived from Norse sunt kelda ("sweet wellwater") or from a mistaken Dutch assumption that the spring Tobar Childa was dedicated to a saint.

Answer 3

Who was St Kilda? This is a cut and paste from the site listed below.

The name St Kilda is misleading as there never was a St Kilda associated with islands. It was first used instead of Hirte, or Hirta, on a map published in 1540, but for an island near Lewis. On a map of 1592 it was used for the St Kilda archipelago.

The word may be a corruption of the Old Norse word 'Skildir' meaning shields, and possibly refers to the shape of the islands when viewed from a distance at sea.