Scottish "Tee" names

[NoodlesRS]

Can someone enlighten me on Scottish "Tee" names as a Scottish Researcher who shares some of my 'Taylor' research relating to Banffshire, mentioned that some of his Taylor family had "Tee" names. He claimed this was to distinguish one family line from another, who had the same surnames.   It did not of course relate solely to his Taylor line and he cited a Wood family known as Deacon (the latter being their "Tee" name).

I can only imagine it is on a par with the Welsh way of saying "Jones the Milk", "Evans the Butcher" and so on,  to distinguish different family clans.   So can anyone confirm the Scottish practice of "Tee" names?  Apparently the "Tee" names sometimes carried through to BMD registrations.

[Skoosh]

In the fishing villages of Easter Ross these are by-names & often Gaelic!

Skoosh.

[NoodlesRS]

Thank you and yes Easter Ross fishing community was cited by my original Researcher and now know they are also known as 'By-names' and often in Gaelic.

[RJ_Paton]

Scotlands people has this to say :-

To-names or T-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 for example James (Rosie) Cowie, James (Bullen) Cowie, Jessie (Gyke) Murray, and may be designated in inverted commas on the image of the actual entry.

[Wred]

The by-names tradition still carries on today. An acquaintance, called Mackay from 'Mackay country'- North Sutherland- where most people are called err..   Mackay, is often referred to as  'first name' Crow being member of the black haired branch.  Also some older records might say Crow Mackay.
On the north coast fishing communities nicknames were very common where people shared a small number of names.

And not just Scotland. My Italian family came from isolated mountain villages where 95% shared on surnames and they were split into long (Lungo) and short (poco) families.

[Forfarian]

Yes, tee-names are still used along the Banffshire coast. In some of the 19th century censuses the enumerators helpfully included tee-names to distinguish the numerous families with the same surnames.

I have at least one in my own tree - William Duncan "Gray" in Buckie.

[NoodlesRS]

Can I just say a big thank you to all who responded on the fascinating subject of 'T' names.  I learned an awful lot and now understand how some of those researched by me (in Banffshire) got their 'extra' names.