Hello! I was so excited to find this forum. While tracing our genealogy, we discovered our family immigrated here from Scotland. Being the only redhead in my family for many generations, I was especially interested in learning of my Celtic roots.

I am getting a Celtic tattoo and I would like a Scottish Gaelic translation of "Stay Strong". I am specifically referring to staying emotionally strong. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks. Annie

There are several ways to say "stay/remain" in Gaelic, and also a few ways to stay "strong". In a literal sense, I think the closest to what you mean would be the following, which is very close to its Irish equivalent:

Fan làidir [said to one person, informally]
Fanaibh làidir [said to more than one person, or said formally to one person]

However, if you want something which sounds very Gaelic, and has the virtue of being short and sweet, you might like the following, which is used in all sorts of situations for things like "stick with it", "hold fast", "stay true", "keep going", etc.:

Cùm ris [said to one person, informally]
Cumaibh ris [said to more than one person, or said formally to one person]
[There is still some flux in Gaelic spelling, so not everyone puts the accent in cùm, especially in some forms of the verb]

The choice between the informal and formal forms would be a lot like the choice in French between tu and vous or in German between Du and Sie. In slogans like this, though, people often just opt for the singular informal form, since you aren't really speaking to anyone in particular, so I'd opt for Cùm ris.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

Can't help you with the translation myself, but a friend of mine with the surname Scott is the only black-haired boy in a family of redheads. Turns out there is a pre-Celtic black-haired gene that resurfaces every now and then (but which the Spanish Armada gets erroneously blamed for). Not the same as your case - in fact possibly the opposit - but isn't genetics fascinating.

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

I read somewhere that the gene(s) for red hair are recessive, but the reason that red hair is so common in places like Ireland and Scotland is that half of the population (or even more in Scotland, I think) carries the recessive gene, so red-heads can be born into any family where the parents both carry the gene(s), even if everyone else has darker hair.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.