A popular myth traces the name "Bonny Eagle" to an event that allegedly occurred near the intersection of Routes 22 and 35. In that story, two gentlemen were walking towards each other on the road that is currently Route 35. As they approached the intersection of that road and Saco Road, a bird flew overhead. One of the two gentlemen, who was of Scottish descent, looked into the sky and remarked to the other, "My, sir, isn't that a bonny eagle!" ("Bonny" being a Scottish word meaning "good" or "beautiful").

In reality, such an event never occurred. The name "Bonny Eagle" does refer to village consisting of a small settlement of homes and a gristmill at that same crossroads back in the late eighteenth century. A map dating from 1795 refers to the village as "Bonnamaneglin" and one eleven years later identifies a place called "Bonnemanheglon".1 Each word references English settlers' attempts to spell a native American word that means "swampy place". (Given the fact that the area surrounding the current Bonny Eagle place is a protected wetland, the descriptive term selected by the original native dwellers is certainly appropriate!) Over time the place name was Anglicized to its current form -- Bonny Eagle.

When MSAD #6 consolidated the high schools serving the four communities of Buxton, Hollis, Limington, and Standish in 1961, the name of the small village located on the Buxton/Standish town line was selected as the name of the district's new secondary school. Given both the folklore behind the name "Bonny Eagle" and the Scottish term inherent in the phrase, it was appropriate that the Scotsman be the school's mascot.

~Martin Jewett and Olive Hannaford, A History of Hollis, Maine: 1660-1776, p. 8.