Burns Surprising Facts

Some facts you may not know about the infamous Rabbie Burns!

First of all, he never actually referred to himself as Rabbie, even though he is often called ‘Robbie Burns’ or ‘Rabbie Burns’ by others. He went by other variations of Robert including Rab, Rob, Robin and even ‘Rantin’ Rovin’ Robin’. In one letter he even used ‘Spunkie’ as a sort of signature and symbol to sign off the letter.  In fact, his second name wasn’t even Burns! It was actually Burnes, but he preferred the Ayrshire spelling without the ‘e’ and chose to shorten his last name at the age of 27.

As well as his name and his words, his likeness has also become infamous. After Queen Victoria and Christopher Columbus, Robert Burns has more statues dedicated to him around the world than any other non-religious figure. More than 60 across the world, with 20 official memorials in Scotland. Monuments dedicated to the poet can be found in America, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and France. He was even pictured on a bottle of Coca-Cola in 2009, becoming the first person to appear on a commemorative bottle of Coca-Cola.