Geordie Who can call themselves a Geordie!

Geordie′s May sound slightly Scottish in accent, according to the rest of the World! but: we are in England. About 80km from the Scottish Borders!

This is a very long and old ongoing debate. It′s about just what and who a Geordie is. Where they are and where they originate from!

Many visitors refute the debate entirely believing it′s being born on the banks on the river tyne that makes a Geordie? Forgetting they would have to be older than God to know this as reality? The truth is no one knows the origin of Geordie?

Part of the debate assume a Geordie as having Newcastle upon Tyne on their Birth Certificate.

Some say that there is a set specific boundary for being born within a few miles of Newcastle City Centre or from Greys Monument.

But that would leave many North East folk out, you see. To me and many others, Gateshead Tynemouth South Shields and many other local areas, are most certainly Geordies. People from Tynemouth and South Shields. Whitley Bay and other coastal areas. Also Consett Hexam Morpeth.

I have no Idea personally, just how far the true boundary for Geordies actually lies. Assuming best part of the North East of England covers the Geordie Map. Then we have quite a large area indeed.

It′s a debate I have no intention of getting into, not in depth, but has to date through countless years never once reached a definite agreement.

Let me say though, that Newcastle and the River Tyne is 100% for sure, the very Heart of Geordie Land. That much I will agree with.

The Gateshead Angel more recently has even been pulled into this heated ongoing debate. Gateshead Angel. Angel of the North. Guardian of the Gateway to the North.

Will this debate ever end or reach agreement! Who is permitted to call himself a Geordie?

Originally, it would appear that the name applied only to miners, Keelmen or inhabitants of Newcastle. Later It became applied to members of the Tyneside Community at large. Nowadays, it would seem that anyone born in Northumberland, Durham or on the banks of the river Wear can call themselves "Geordie". Yet basically today these are more simply defined as the folk from the City of Newcastle upon Tyne

However, globally anyone abroad visting from the North East is commonly thought of as a Geordie, and also the folk from Gateshead too, surely they are known as Geordies themselves also living also on the bank of the River Tyne?

There are four possible explanations for the name Geordie. It would appear that no-one knows which is correct, if any.

One opinion is that the name was born in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, when the Jacobites by-passed Newcastle, which, as well as favouring the Hanovarian King George, was also a well-guarded garrison. The Jacobites then said that Newcastle and the surrounding areas were all "for George". Hence the name "Geordies".

Another school of thought thinks the name originated from the coal mines of Durham and Northumberland, for many poems and songs written about and in the dialect of these two counties speak of the "Geordie". The Oxford English Dictionary states that the word has two meanings: a guinea (which had the figure of St. George on it) and a pitman. Whilst the name was applicable to coal-miners it later became applicable to Tynesiders in general.

The third possible origin is from George Stephenson, who in 1815 invented the miners′lamp. The Northumberland miners used this lamp in preference to that invented by Sir Humphrey Davy at the same time, and the lamp, and eventually the miners themselves became known as Geordies.

The last possible explanation also derives from George Stephenson. In 1826, he gave evidence to a Parliamentary Commission on Railways at which his blunt speech and dialect drew contemptuous sneers. From that date, it is said that Londoners began to call the Keelmen who carried coal from the Tyne to the Thames "Geordie".

Who is permitted to call himself a Geordie? Again there are various viewpoints.

Originally, it would appear that the name applied only to miners (origin 2 and 3), Keelmen

(origin 4) or inhabitants of Newcastle (origin 1). Later it became applied to members of the Tyneside Community at large.

Nowadays, it would seem that anyone in Northumberland, Durham or Tyne and Wear can call themselves "Geordie".

These are the four possible explanations for the name Geordie. It would appear that no-one knows or even agrees which is correct, if any.