CHAP. x.J FISHER NAMES. 467 



that the gentlemen of the press were careful, in their reports 

 of the proceedings, to couple with the real names of the men 

 the appellations by which they were best known as " Mr. 

 Peter Cowie, ' langlegs/ proposed the health, etc." So, upon 

 all occasions of registering births, marriages, or deaths, the 

 " tee" name must be recorded. If a fisherman be summoned 

 to answer in a court of justice, he is called not only by his 

 proper name, but by his nickname as well. In many of the 

 fishing villages, where the population is only a few hundreds, 

 there will not, perhaps, be half a dozen surnames, and the 

 whole of the inhabitants therefore will be related " through- 

 ither," as such intermixture is called in Scotland. The variety 

 of nicknames, therefore, is wonderful, but necessary in order 

 to the identification of the different members of the few 

 families who inhabit the fishing villages. The different divi- 

 sions of Buckie, for instance, are inhabited by different clans ; 

 on the west side of the river or burn there are none but Eeids 

 and Stewarts, while on the east side we have only Cowies and 

 Hurrays. Cowie is a very common name on the shores of the 

 Moray Firth ; at Whitehills, and other villages, there are 

 many bearing that surname, and to distinguish one from the 

 other, such nicknames as Shavie, Pinchie, Howdie, Doddlies, 

 etc., are employed. In some families the nickname has come 

 to be as hereditary as the surname ; and when Shavie senior 

 crosses " that bourne/' etc., Shavie junior will still perpetuate 

 the family " tee " name. All kinds of circumstances are indi- 

 cated by these names personal blemishes, peculiarities of 

 manner, etc. There is, in consequence, Gley'd Sandy Cowie, 

 Gley'd Sandy Cowie, dumpie, and Big Gley'd Sandy Cowie ; 

 there is Souples, Goup-the-Lift, Lang-nose, Brandy, Stottie, 

 Hawkie, etc. Every name in church or state is represented 

 - kings, barons, bishops, doctors, parsons, and deacons ; and 

 others, in countless variety, that have neither rhyme nor rea- 

 son to account for them. 



