Blair Collection > Surnames & place-names of the Isle of Man

lEicJtnamijs UB^p in tlit Jsle wf Wan. 127
• William Curlett, vulg6 plew.' This title appears in
the same family for generations. It was probably origi-
nally given to a ploughman. * Thos. Teare, shecter,'
i.e., executor. This name has continued in the same
family for one hundred and fifty years. ' William Cain,
FLUTE,' was doubtless a performer on that instrument.
' Wm. Quackyn, JOCKEY,' who died in 1740, may
have been a rider in the * Isle of Man Derby,' which is
said to have been originated by the Earls of Derby on
Langness long before the Epsom Derby was thought
of! 'Edward Teare, vulg6 Ned y Ghaue,' i.e.,
Ned the smith.
' Stowell the Gobbag,' probably a fisherman.
Gobbag is the dog-fish. ' Thomas Kneal, pesson,' i.e.,
parson, probably an itinerant preacher.
The following extract from a paper in Blackwood's
Magazine for March, 1842, which depicts the fancy
nomenclature of a Scotch fishing village in a most
graphic and amusing manner, will show how the Scotch
nicknames compare with the Manx :
' The fishers are generally in want of surnames. . . .
There are seldom more than two or three surnames in
a fish town. There are twenty-five George Cowies in
Buckie (Cowie is the name of an ancient fishing village).
The grocers in * booking ' their fisher customers invari-
ably insert the nickname or tee-name, and in the case
of married men write down the wife's along with the
husband's name. The married debtors have the names
of their parents inserted with their own. In the town
register of Peterhead these signatures occur : Elizabeth
Taylor, spouse to John Thomson, Gouples ; Agnes
Farquahar, spouse to W. Findlater, Stouttie. ... It
is amusing enough to turn over the leaves of a grocer's