Buckie

Buckie () is a burgh town (defined as such in 1888) on the Moray Firth coast of Scotland. Historically in Banffshire, Buckie was the largest town in the county until the administrative area was abolished in 1975. The town is the third largest in the Moray council area after Elgin and Forres and within the definitions of statistics published by the General Register Office for Scotland was ranked at number 75 in the list of population estimates for settlements in Scotland mid-year 2006. Buckie is virtually equidistant to Banff to the east and Elgin to the west, with both approximately distant whilst Keith lies to the south by road.

==Etymology== The origin of the name of the town is not entirely clear. Although the folk etymology is that Buckie is named after a seashell (genus buccinum) the shared marine background is most likely a coincidence. The name Buckie would not have originally identified a place immediately adjacent to the sea, so alternative etymological sources are more likely. Unfortunately, in one of the earlier books on Scottish place names, Buckie on the Moray Firth does not receive a mention. However, a Buckie 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. This suggests the meaning of Buckie as place where male deer gather, possibly referring to the valley of what is known today as the Buckie Burn.