Alias surnames

[scottmm65]

Researching my McIntosh line in the Black Isle and have come across a significant number of records on Scotlands People in this area where the surname is given as "Gow or McIntosh", this is 1760's and onward.

A bit of research has told me that Gow is gaelic for a smith. Gow is also a Clan Chattan sept. Am I right in thinking that after Culloden they may have ditched Jacobite linked surnames for more anglicised ones, and then reverted back to them near the end of the 18th century and beyond?

I know that the McGregors used different names, as did Frasers and Stewarts.

I thought I would easily find a lot more information on the internet about this subject, but so far I have not unearthed much at all.

I'm sure a lot of family historians would be interested in being aware of these alias names as they could be potentially breaking down many brick walls.

Scott

[Elwyn 1]

Scott,

The prohibition on the use of McGregor was a special case because of the rather unpleasant slaughter by some McGregors of a group of Colquhouns (mainly women and children) in 1603 who had sought refuge in Glen Fruin. The Scottish King James VI was so appalled he forbade the use of the McGregor name for a significant number of years.

https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts- ... ars-605743

In general they wouldn’t want to reveal their previous surname and so were unlikely to volunteer McGregor as an alias. Otherwise the use of alias usually indicated a woman’s maiden or previous name. (Alias just means otherwise).

It might be helpful if you gave us examples of the aliases you have found so we can suggest what the explanation might be in each case.

[carolineasb]

Are these possibly "T names"? I think that these were more prevalent in the East and more to the North of Scotland which the Black Isle is? A kind of nickname given to branches of a family as they all had the same surname but each branch had a different "T name" to distinguish which branch an individual was from?

[Moray_Lass]

When I saw the title I thought they were going to talk about Tee-names, but that isn't how they are recorded, and I'm not sure if it stretches up to Black isle. My maternal family is riddled with Tee-names, it is a Fishing Village things. They are recorded as John Wood "Deacon" or George "Sailor" Flett (2 of mine) in census and sometimes death records etc.

[scottmm65]

Hi All,

Maybe they are T names or nicknames.

I will try to explain what I am looking at.

If in Scotlands People OPR's, births and baptisms, put GOW in the surname field and select Ross and Cromarty.
191 entries will come back. if you skim through you will see there are quite a few that state 'GOW or McINTOSH.
There are others such as Gow or Blacky and Gow or Honie etc, and these ones are in Avoch which would have had a fishing community.
These names do sound a bit more like nicknames.
The McIntoshes I am interested in are in Redcastle/Killearnan/Knockbain.
My brick wall is John McIntosh labourer/woodcutter who married Mary McDonald in Killearnan in 1849.
John always stated in every census that he was born in Glasgow (circa 1818 to 1823).
One of his five children was Robert Balfour McIntosh. The Balfour middle name has been passed on down the family to the present day but no-one knows why?
It is a lowland name, you won't find many Balfour names in Ross and Cromarty in the 18 and 19th centuries, (the only one I can find was the politician Balfour family that owned and cleared Strathconnon in the 1840's.
I have always hoped the Balfour name was going to be the mothers maiden name recorded in Glasgow,or some other obvious giveaway, but no such luck so far.

One of my relatives said she hit a brick wall on her Stuart line until she discovered they were using the surname McWillie.

When you get back to the early 1800's it all gets a bit hit and miss.