Herriegerrie or various spellings in between...

darrenst · Post by **darrenst** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 2:28 am

Hi folks.

This is my first new post as opposed to replying to someone elses one. There doesn't seem to be too many from up in Aberdeenshire, so I will wait and see how this goes.

I have an ancestor named Isobel Herriegerrie (on gravestone, 1867), Herrygarry (on daughter's marriage certificate, 1855) and Gerrie (on husband's death, 1875).

I do still live in the north east of Scotland, but wonder if anyone is any the wiser as to how this curious surname came to be about?

The surname seemed to die in the late 19th century, and got replaced with Gerrie or Garioch.

From local knowledge, the name seems to originate in the Oldmeldrum area (a parish of Aberdeenshire), and may or may not be linked to the fact that the area around Oldmeldrum and Inverurie is known nowadays as "The Garioch", which to non-speaking Scots people sounds like "geeerie", hence possibly the Gerrie shortened name (still pronounced as the above in Aberdeenshire).

Interested to hear from anyone with an opinion or an ancestor. Also, my lot did not seem to be that interested in Church, so no OPR entries to help me out...or maybe Oldmeldrum was not that good in keeping records.

Any more Hairygarriochs (yes I have found it spelled that way) out there?

Cheers,

Darren

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 2:36 am

From Black's "The Surnames of Scotland":

"HERRIEGERRIE. A curious local corruption of the name GARIOCH, see also GEERIE. William Herriegerie, miller of Caden, and his family are in the Poll Book of 1696. John Heregerie in Carnehills died in 1795. Cf the tale of 'Francie Herriegerie's Shargie Laddie' in William Alexander's 'Sketches of life among my ain folk'"

And in the entry for GARIOCH: "...this surname has also assumed the extraordinary forms of ARICARI and HERRIEGERRIE."

David

darrenst · Post by **darrenst** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 2:47 am

Hi David.

Very curious indeed!

They seem to use the Herrygerry (or whatever spelling) name fine until about towards the end of the 19th century, then it dies.

Thoughts?

Darren

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:15 am

Surnames, especially unusual ones, do die out........

David

CatrionaL · Post by **CatrionaL** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:06 am

Darren,
the picture that the name conjures up for me is a bearded man from Garrioch. "Herry" "Hairy", but then I'm not from Aberdeenshire.

Catriona

Post by **AnneM** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:38 am

Hi Darren

The Freecen site has quite a good coverage of the 1841 census for Aberdeenshire and there are Harrygarrys in Forgue and Herrygerrys (one household) in Fyvie. I've found that site very useful when researching for people who unlike myself have ancestors in the North East.

Given Catriona's comment you can see why the name might lose popularity.

Anne

darrenst · Post by **darrenst** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:04 pm

Thanks for that Anne. The spelling combinations of the name are VERY varied, so I often miss a few when searching sites like Freecen!

And Catriona, yes, the image is quite compelling!

Darren