What's in a Name?

Place Names Scotland Inverness County

You may think one name is as good as another. What would you do though, if many people in your community had the same name as you?

When the Scottish Highlanders left Scotland in the late 1700s and early 1800s, they often came with other people from the same community. It was as if the community just picked itself up and put itself down in a new place. Because people in these communities were often related to one another, there were only a few family names in each one.

On Cape Breton Island, especially in rural Inverness County, you can find many MacDonalds, Beatons, Rankins, Campbells, MacPhees and MacKinnons. Popular names in these families have included John, Angus, Alexander, Catherine, Mary and Margaret. There were many Mary Beatons and John Campbells, for example.

There were so many people with the same name, it became necessary to add something to their names so people could tell them apart. That is why names like Black Angus, Allan the Ridge, and Alexander the Tailor began to be used. Black would refer to hair colour, the Ridge would identify where the person was from and Tailor would identify the work they did. This way they could tell one John Campbell from another!