A tee-name is a form of

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

traditionally used in the north-east of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

to disambiguate people with the same

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A personal ...

or in the same

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

, in the same way as the

agnomen An ''agnomen'' (; plural: ''agnomina''), in the Roman naming convention, was a nickname, just as the ''cognomen'' was initially. However, the ''cognomina'' eventually became family names, so ''agnomina'' were needed to distinguish between simila ...

(or in early periods the cognomen) was used in

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

naming convention A naming convention is a convention (generally agreed scheme) for naming things. Conventions differ in their intents, which may include to: * Allow useful information to be deduced from the names based on regularities. For instance, in Manhatta ...

s. A tee-name can be based on a personal characteristic, a trade, or where the person lived. An example is "Muckle Sanny Fite" for "Alexander White", where "Muckle" means "big" (a tee-name), and "Sanny" (or Sandy, or Elshioner) is a diminutive of "Alexander". Tee-names could be inherited from a parent.

Notes

References

* {{cite book, last=Fowler, first=David L., title=A Closer Look at Tee-Names and Trade Adertisements from Portgordon to Cullen, year=n.d., publisher=Buckie District Fishing Heritage, isbn=9780955624155