Old Photograph Fishing Boat Buckie Scotland

Old photograph of a fishing boat leaving the harbour in Buckie, Moray Firth, Scotland. The origin of the name of the town has caused some debate and although the folk etymology is that Buckie is named after a seashell the reality is that the shared marine background is merely a coincidence. The name Buckie would originally have occurred in identifying a place that was not immediately adjacent to the sea so we must seek alternative etymological sources. Unfortunately in one of the earlier books on Scottish place names Buckie on the Moray Firth does not receive a mention although Buckie, spelt the same way, in the Balquhidder district of Perthshire is described as being derived from the Gaelic word boc or Welsh bowk, both meaning a buck or male deer so this would suggest the meaning of Buckie as place where male deer gather and this specifically would most likely have been the valley of what is known today as the Buckie Burn.

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