To the present day surnames are little used in Gairloch when Gaelic is being spoken, and even in English a number of men are often called by the equivalents of their Gaelic names. These Gaelic names are formed by the addition to the Christian name of a _soubriquet_ or byname, often hereditary, or else of the father's, grandfather's, and even the great-grandfather's Christian names or some or one of them. Thus in the minutes of the Presbytery of Dingwall, referring to sacrifices of bulls (Appendix F), we find the names of Donald M'Eaine Roy vic Choinnich and Murdo M'Conill varchu vic Conill vic Allister, which in English are respectively "Donald the son of John Roy the son of Kenneth" and "Murdo the son of Donald Murdo the son of Donald the son of Alexander." "Roy," properly "Ruadh," happens to be the only _soubriquet_ in these two compound names. Take some examples from names of men now living:--Alexander Mackenzie, the senior piper of the Gairloch volunteers, is the son of John Mackenzie of Moss Bank; the father is known as Iain Glas, _i.e._ Pale John; the son is always called in Gaelic Ali' Iain Ghlais, _i.e._ Alexander [son] of Pale John. This name also illustrates the custom of continuing a _soubriquet_, whether appropriate or not, from one generation to another; Iain Glas is so called, not because he has a pale face, but because the byname had belonged to an uncle of his. So we find John M'Lean, the industrious crofter on the east side of the Ewe, called Iain Buidhe, or Yellow-haired John, not because he has yellow hair, but because an ancestor of his was dubbed with that byname. Among very numerous instances of the application of bynames to men now living, the following may be given:--Donald Og, Alie Ruadh, Uilleam Ruadh, Alie Beag, Iain Dubh, Eachainn Geal, Seann Seoc, and Alie Uistean, meaning respectively Young Donald, Red-haired Alexander, Red-haired William, Little Alexander, Black John, White Hector, Old Jock, and Alexander Hugh. Young Donald is an elderly man; Little Alexander a tall man; Old Jock acquired the name as a boy because he had then an old head on young shoulders; and Alexander Hugh is so called because he had an ancestor named Hugh, though he himself was baptized Alexander only. In each of these cases the individual is either a Mackenzie, Urquhart, or Maclennan, but is never so called by his neighbours. The same system of nomenclature is similarly applied to the other sex. It is worth notice that several Gaelic names are not translatable into English; thus Eachainn is not really Gaelic for Hector, any more than Uistean is for Hugh, but these English names have long been adopted as reasonably good equivalents for the Gaelic. Some female names in Gairloch sound strange to lowland ears, _i.e._ those formed by adding _ina_ to a man's name not usually associated with that termination in the south,--for example, Simonina, Donaldina, Murdina, Seumasina (or Jamesina), Angusina, Hectorina, &c. Chapter II.