Nickname or Byname

[Dusty]

My great grandfather was George Sinclair from Shore Street in Thurso and he was a foreign going seaman, for a time sailing as skipper of the Wick registered schooner "Gleaner".
His nickname was "Geordie Borgie" and this is puzzling me as none of the family can throw any light on why he was called this.
Apparently he was a well respected seaman and I am told that the worthies at Braehead would put a discussion on maritime matters on hold with "wait til Borgie comes and he'll sort it out".
His father Andrew (also a merchant seaman) and grandfather George both lived in Shore Street in Thurso and the previous two generations (Alexander and George) were also born in Thurso so there does not appear to be any association with any of the Caithness or Sutherland farms or places called Borgie.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to why my great grandfather might have been given this name, does Borgie mean anything in old Caithness dialect?

Cheers,
Dusty.

[jackie]

HI Dusty, I am not sure if this will help you out or not, but since he was a seaman and travelled around he might have been given what was known as a T-name. Now my father's family come from the Morayshire area and T-names were very popular there. For instance you may have several George Sinclairs living in the same town or area, so to distinguish them one from another the locals gave them T-names. In my family I have a Alexander Young who was known as Sanny Daan (Daan being a T-name carried over from his mother's line) His brother Thomas would have been referred to as Tam Daan. Their cousin Alexander Young (they always have several in the family) might have been called Sandy Young. If you type into your search engine T Names someone who has done research on this has written a good article on this naming practice. IT sure helped me to understand why they did that. Being in Canada I don't called anyone by a Tname. My mothers side from Orkney used to distinguish them all by house names like George o' the Mill, so then people would know they were referring to George Simpson who lived at the Mill not the George Simpson who lived in Whanclet!
This may not be the reason in your families case but it sure has been in mine. Hope this helps somewhat.
Jackie

[Dusty]

Hi Jackie,
Thanks for that pointer, I will follow your suggestion and do some investigation into T Names.
I must admit I had not heard the term T Name before so this is a new avenue.
Thanks again.

Dusty.