"Small Isles" is the name of the coterminous civil parish and former Church of Scotland parish,Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. . p. 134 originally created in 1726 from part of Sleat parish, the balance of which lies on the much larger island of Skye. The original name of the new parish was Eigg or Short Isles. "In process of time the name was by an easy transition changed from 'Short' to 'Small' Isles."Donald McLean "Small Isles, County of Inverness", Old Statistical Account of Scotland, Vol. XVII, 1796 The islands are not especially small, with Rùm being the 15th largest in Scotland. The Gaelic name of translates as "cross isles", referring to the islands' position between Morar and Uist.
