Curious word in Old Scots Parish baptism records

sluchs

Can anyone identify the definition of the word I find in baptism records from Old Scots Parishes (Presbyterian)? I am attaching a photo of a page so you can see that the word appears after the child's given name and is a repeated pattern. I think it might be a contraction. I would be grateful to know what this word is and it's importance in each record entry. (I have circled the word in red each time it appeared on a single page. Hopefully you can see the image).

Thank you,

Sue Luchs

Curious word.png

Paul W

@sluchs

The word is merely the Scottish surname COWLL. However, I am still trying to work out in what context it is being recorded. There's probably something obvious I am missing, but - as parents and witnessess are clearly identified - the only thing I can think of (however strange) is that all these (baptised) children were given the middle name COWLL.

JBPurdie

@sluchs

If you can tell us where this shot was found Parish or film number maybe we can as @Paul W said work out why it was recorded or the significance, all those children having the same middle name

sluchs

This is the baptism record of James Nisbet, Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, Scotland. The date is 22 Aug, 1691. His parents were Alexander Nisbet (abbreviated Alex in the record) and Christian Wood. Parish number is 731, reference number 10/160, Old Parish Registers Births and Baptisms on Scotlandspeople. The word could be COWELL, perhaps the name of the clergy. However, the slash above it makes me wonder if it's a contraction of some kind.

Paul W

@sluchs

I'm not too familiar with the format of Scottish parish register entries, so will leave other members to comment further on this. However, I found COWLL was a surname variant - apparently for someone of COULL (Aberdeenshire), though possibly connected to COWELL. The "w" in these entries seems to represent the witnesses - perhaps godparents.

sluchs

Paul W, Thank you. Right now I'm guessing it's the surname of the clergy who performed all the baptisms recorded on that page/year. I wish I could see other pages from that parish to verify that was the pattern used in that parish. If anyone is able to see other pages for 1690 or 1692 in that parish, that might be helpful. Thanks to each of you who have looked at the "Curious Word."

Jill 2021

Only by comparison of position of the word, I see the last entry on the page has the name Elizabeth, followed by '****'.

Could it be a word to denote that the child is not a ****, but is the child of married parents? Like others, I read the mystery word as COWLL.

Good luck!