Ruth McPherson was born and educated in Scotland but left to work in London two years ago and so has no say on whether her native country should end three centuries of union with England.

Over a million Scots like McPherson living outside the land of their birth can take no part in a Sept. 18 referendum on breaking from the rest of Britain, while 1 in six of those who can vote were not born in Scotland. That has fueled a debate on just what it means to be Scottish in the 21st century.

"It's ridiculous," said McPherson, 26. Born in Inverness and brought up in nearby Elgin in the north, she studied in the capital, Edinburgh, before following generations of compatriots south of the English border for a job in publishing.