Scotland's dying art of traditional nicknames

The tradition of family names and nicknames was handed down through generations of islanders

A Scottish tradition of giving people a family name or a nickname based on their appearance, or where they are from or who their parents are is at risk of dying out, an academic has said.

The practice has been handed down through generations in west coast Gaelic-speaking communities, and examples include Ceitidh Ruadh (Red-haired Katie) and Pàdraig Murchadh Moilean (Peter, son of Murdo of the eyebrows).

Parts of the Hebrides - Lewis, Harris and Barra - have phonebooks listing people's official names alongside their nicknames.

Iain Taylor, who lectured at Scotland's Gaelic national centre - Sabhal Mòr Ostaig - in Skye for 20 years, said English language nicknames were replacing more traditional ones.

Mr Taylor, who has written about Scottish personal names and place-names, said there was a good practical reason behind the tradition.

In the past, many families in traditional Gaelic areas adopted the name of the local clan chief.

He said this had resulted in a relatively small number of surnames.

Mr Taylor said: "In places like Scalpay and Harris there were very few first names and surnames generally used.

"So you could have 30 John Macleods.

"How do you distinguish between them all?"

The answer was to give a person a family name, which could be derived from patronymics and matronymics - names based on a father or mother's name.

Nicknames are also used, often inspired by where a person is from or what they look like.

Mr Taylor said: "I stayed in a township in South Uist and one of my neighbours was Ceitidh Ruadh - Red-haired Katie - and down the road there was Iain Mòr - Big or Tall John."

Other names include:

• Alasdair Dhòmhnaill Mhòir (Alexander of Big Donald)

• Calum Seònaid (Janet's Calum)

• Alasdair Nìll Bhig (Little Neil's Alasdair)

• Am Muileach (The Mull Man)

Nonsense nicknames have also been popular.

"My cousin's nickname was Queek and we have no idea why," said Mr Taylor.

Mr Taylor believes the decline started in the 1980s and was partly linked to improvements to TV transmitters.

This boosted the choice of channels for viewers in the islands from just BBC One to include BBC Two and Grampian (now STV).

Mr Taylor said a period of decline in the use of Gaelic may have further impacted on the tradition.

"I spent three years in Uist and even in that short time English language nicknames were replacing traditional ones," said Mr Taylor.

"You were hearing nicknames like Wee Guy and Bigfoot."

He said a similar tradition of nicknames, called tee-names, was used in north east Scotland and may have already disappeared.

Like the Gaelic tradition, tee-names were used to differentiate between families with the same surname.

Mr Taylor, who grew up in Moray, said: "I know some Woods were called Deacon - my great-granny was known locally as Alexina Deacon although she was Alexina Wood officially.

"Some Mairs were called Shavie and some Gardiners were known as Bo.

"I've seen examples from Portknockie, Findochty and Buckie."

Annie MacSween, of Ness Historical Society in Lewis, has also noticed a decline of the west coast tradition.

In the late 1970s she was seconded to a project that looked into the feasibility of bilingual education provision for the islands.

The initiative also encouraged greater community involvement in the running of the isles.

Mrs MacSween said: "A lot of my initial work was in the Ness community and only a number of houses had phones - remember this was a time long before mobile phones.

"The community association in Ness decided it would be a good idea to have a local telephone directory.

"The first one was printed by the Stornoway Gazette in 1977, I think it was.

"In it we had the official names of people and their nicknames or family names."

Four editions were printed with the last one in 2018.

Over the years, a book recording sheep tags used by local crofters was also produced.

It listed crofters by their formal names and also their family name or nickname.

Allan Campbell was nicknamed Volt at school because his of his initials AC, which in electrical terms is the abbreviation for alternating current.

Allan Campbell, who grew up in the north of Skye, said the names were an important part of his cultural identity.

"I think the patronymic names are really interesting to those who are interested in their own history, and I think that it's really important in terms of the language and the culture we have as Gaels," he said.

He said some names were based on a person's trade, such as a blacksmith, while others were clever word play.

When he was a schoolboy he was nicknamed Volt because his initials, AC, are an abbreviation for the electrical term "alternating current". He is still known by some people just by his nickname.

During his education he stayed in a hostel at Portree High School and patronymics and nicknames were used almost like a secret code.

He said: "In the dorm at night, when the lights went out, and the boys were talking about what had happened - maybe of some sort of mischief - they wouldn't be naming people by their real names because quite often the masters would be listening at the doors."

Genealogist Calum MacNeil said patronymic names were popular when he was growing up in Nask, a small community in Barra.

He said: "Almost nobody that lived in Nask originally came from Nask.

"They came from different places on the island. Because of that, we used their patronymic names."

Mr MacNeil said nicknames could be potentially contentious.

"There were some who were happy with the nickname they were given, and others that weren't," he said.

"There were also some that were happy with it but maybe their families weren't happy with it."