Query - use of by-names Jack family

[Joyful]

COMPLETED

[Isles]

The best advice I can give you is to go to the website www.whatsinaname.net/faq.html  There are others dealing with the subject which you can find by Googling:  Tee names.
A friend of mine whose name is Johnny Ritchie is called Johnny Henderson (his mother's maiden surname) to distinguish him from the other John Ritchies in the fishing village of Gourdon.

[Isles]

The best advice I can give you is to go to the website www.whatsinaname.net/faq.html  There are others dealing with the subject which you can find by Googling:  Tee names.
A friend of mine whose name is Johnny Ritchie is called Johnny Henderson (his mother's maiden surname) to distinguish him from the other John Ritchies in the fishing village of Gourdon.

[MonicaL]

Hi Joyful and Isles

I just posted this on another thread so easy to reference quickly.  From Scotlands People:

To-names
To-names or T-names meaning “other names” or nicknames, were prevalent particularly in the fishing communities of North East Scotland, but were also seen in the Borders and to a lesser extent in the West Highlands.

In those areas where a relatively small number of surnames were in use, T-names were tacked on to the name to distinguish individuals with the same surname and forename. The nickname may have referred to a distinguishing feature or be the name of the fishing boat on which the person was employed. These T-names have made their way into the records. For example, amongst the numerous John Cowies of Buckie can be found fisherman John Cowie “Carrot” who married Isabella Jappie of Cullen in 1892. Was this perhaps a reference to the colour of his hair?

The T-name appears on a statutory results page in brackets in order to distinguish it from a middle name e.g. James (Rosie) Cowie, James (Bullen) Cowie, Jessie (Gyke) Murray, and may be designated in inverted commas on the image of the actual entry.


Quite often the t-name was carried through for the family line, but not always....which probably doesn't help you necessarily with your original query.

Regards.

Monica 

[Joyful]

Thank you Isles and Monicalesl for your replies. There are so many "Lewis Jacks" with different by-names I may have to admit defeat which I hate doing

Kind regards
Joyful

[Margo1]

In the baptismal record in Avoch parish for March 1734, there are several men named Jack, and I found the following "alias" names, with all of them living in or near Seatown.  Seatown doesn't show up on any more modern maps, but was then one of several villages, obviously on Avoch Bay.
Donald, James and a second James, all with "alias Gourlie or Gurlie"
Donald Jack alias Goodfeet
Donald Jack son to Wid. Jack
James Jack alias Coul
There were George and David without "alias", so I gather there must have been only one of each!
I can imagine what "Goodfeet" meant, but would anyone have a clue as to what "Gourlie/Gurlie" might have meant?

This same sort of nickname may be found in many families in Quebec, so I had an idea what it would be in Scotland as well.