Scots have blessed the Bluebell with a great many names, though generally only the English call it Harebells. In the 1800s rural Scotland it was sometimes called "Gowk's Thummles," the cuckoo's thimbles, or the Gaelic "Brog na cubhaig," cuckoo's hood. Many plants that have accumulated superstitions are called the Cuckoo's this or that. Gowk meant both Cuckoo & Fool, & Fools were generally believed to be fairy-touched. There is a theory that the Gowk or Fool originated in the Dark Ages as a name the Saxons had for the Britons as arch enemies, & carries still some of the meaning of the "Devil" as the Arch Foe, who is likened the Fool here & there in scripture's Proverbs. There lingers a tradition of Gowk's Day (April Fools Day, but in Scotland held April 13 when the cuckoo begins to call), when children are sent on a Gowk Hunt (in America this became the Snipe Hunt of young campers & scouts). Anyone tricked into going on a Gowk Hunt is for the rest of that day called Gowk or Idiot. An innocent game, but because the voice of the cuckoo was believed to beckon the souls of the dead, & songbirds generally were messengers who could travel between the world of the living & the dead, the supernatural associations for any flower named for the Gowk, Cubhaig or Cuckoo runs deep.

Bluebell, generally known as an English bluebell and currently in flower is a hyacinth. This form carpets in woodland floors.

Harebell, also known as a Scottish bluebell, flowers later in the summer and is a campanula. This is a hedgerow plant.