A public vote will now be held. The five options -  and their official explanations - are:

  • Caledonia Bridge - Caledonia is the Latin name for the area known as Scotland which was beyond the northern frontier of Roman Britain. The name may be related to that of a large central Pictish tribe, the Caledonii.
  • Firth of Forth Crossing - Formed by an ice age glacier, the Firth of Forth is the estuary where the River Forth flows into the North Sea. The Forth Estuary separates Fife and Edinburgh which will be linked by the new bridge.
  • Queensferry Crossing - The name shared by the communities on either bank of the Forth Estuary - North Queensferry and South Queensferry. Named after Queen (Saint) Margaret who established a ferry to carry pilgrims travelling to St Andrews and Dunfermline.
  • Saltire Crossing - Scotland's national flag, representing the cross of St Andrew, the country's patron saint. It is believed to be the oldest continuously used flag in Europe - some even say the world.
  • St Margaret's Crossing - Saint Margaret of Scotland (b1045 - d1093) became Queen Consort of Scotland when she married King Malcolm III Canmore. She established the ferry crossing of the Forth, which carried pilgrims to St Andrews and Dunfermline, and which gave North and South Queensferry their names.

An assessment panel has whittled down the thousands of names that were submitted. There were light-hearted suggestions such as the Pretty Bridge and the Bridge of Size; Scottish words including the Failte Brig (Welcome Bridge), names to recognise famous (and not-so-famous) people, as well as hundreds of suggestions deemed too offensive to be considered.

Not surprisingly, there were many variations along the lines of Third Forth Bridge or Fifth Firth of Forth Fife Crossing, with the numbers included depending on where on the river you started counting. Local TV channel STV has used Google Maps to determine that the new bridge will in fact be the 22nd bridge over the Forth, though acknowledged that the 22nd Firth of Forth bridge wouldn’t be as funny.

The public vote to choose the new name from the five on the shortlist is now under way at www.namethebridge.co.uk .

A schools’ painting competition is also being run, and the 10 finalists can also be seen on the website, including the entry pictured below by 11-year-old Paul from Springfield Primary in Linlithgow.