“Bogue Banks is her name,
A not so ordinary island or name.”
To rephrase the lyrics of the David Gates song “Aubrey.”
There are a multitude of stories about the derivation,
source and meaning of the name Bogue. Whether referencing local historians who
share the stories told to them by their elders or searching works of learned
scholars, you will find the answers less than definitive. Oh, yes, some will
insist they know the truth, but with all the various tales told, it seems wise
to remain a bit skeptical. A review of available literature and discussions
with those who have also looked into this subject produced the following
information.
Edward
Moseley map 1737, first to use Bogue for inlet, sound and banks
Names for geographical features are typically made up of two parts.
One part is a specific place identifier bestowed by the person naming the
feature, and the other part is generic and represents the type or category of
feature. The specific and generic can be presented in either sequence, e.g.,
Big Bear Lake or Lake Erie. The generic identifier often connotes a wide spread
meaning while the specific carries with it a localized meaning.
The 1600s and 1700s are remembered as ages of discovery. Surveyors, naturalists and explorers travelled the world — collecting plants, animals and mineral specimens. Many
also identified and charted geographical features, and along the way, named and
classified them. Major formations were named in recognition of the Crown; (Carolina) significant features were named for members of the aristocracy
(Carteret) or for those who funded the expedition; and lesser discoveries were left
to the individual explorer or, more importantly, the mapmaker who first wrote
the name on a piece of parchment.
Crucial players in the
early history of Carolina were the Lord’s Proprietors. In 1663 King Charles II, formally granted the Province of
Carolina to eight favored courtiers. Their purpose was to make the province useful
and advantageous to his majesty and his subjects. Charting and mapping the
lands was a key activity. Around this time the name Bogue first surfaced.
H. L. Mencken, in his study of American English, identified eight
categories for the source of place names. They provide a checklist to consider
in searching for the derivation of Bogue. Mencken’s categories are as follows:
- Personal Names
- Names Transferred from England
- Indian Names
- Words from Other Languages
- Biblical and Mythological References
- Descriptive Words
- Names ofFlora, Fauna, and Geology
- Fanciful Terms
Personal Names
The name Bogue is of Scottish
and Irish origin, and the early settlers in North Carolina were mainly English
and Scots that migrated from Virginia. An early mapmaker could have selected a
name of a local settler. The earliest charts to use the name Bogue are from the
late 1600s/early 1700s. At that time
Carteret Precinct was thinly populated; however, there was a William Bogue
living in the Perquimans Precinct region, 75 miles to the north. One source said it was named
for Josiah Bogue, who settled the area in the early 1700s, but he was born in
Perquimans County in 1705.
The
map by Lawson named the inlet Bogue in 1709; clearly, this couldn’t have been
named after some child that was not even in the area. In 1986, Hardy Zachary
Bogue compiled a family history, and a copy is in the Carteret County Library
Beaufort branch. Hardy was unable to identify a plausible link for the
family name and the Banks, Sound or Inlet.
Names Transferred from England
The nearest name from the old
world is “Bogs Bank,” a small hamlet 15 miles south of Edinburgh, Scotland. Is
it possible an early settler emigrated from that town? Or, a member of an early
expedition was from Bogs Bank, England, and bestowed that name as tribute to
his home. This story has some appeal, except that the first appearance was
spelled Bogue and applied to the inlet. Using that name for the island and the
sound came later.
Indian Words
In the Choctaw language, "bogue" refers to a clear, swift stream with a sandy gravel bottom. But, there is no record of the Choctaw tribe residing east of Alabama, and the translation of old Indian place names is a mighty complicated business. Perhaps, natives whom explorers encounted referred to the island with a word that sounded like bogue, or the natives referred to themselves as bogue. That’s highly speculative, but not without merit. It is generally believed that Core Banks and Sound are so named due to the presence of the Coree Indian tribe.
In the Choctaw language, "bogue" refers to a clear, swift stream with a sandy gravel bottom. But, there is no record of the Choctaw tribe residing east of Alabama, and the translation of old Indian place names is a mighty complicated business. Perhaps, natives whom explorers encounted referred to the island with a word that sounded like bogue, or the natives referred to themselves as bogue. That’s highly speculative, but not without merit. It is generally believed that Core Banks and Sound are so named due to the presence of the Coree Indian tribe.
Words from Other Language
In French, bogue means bug or
glitch, but that maybe a modern use of the word, as in a computer software bug
or glitch. In Spanish, it is said to be an archaic nautical term referring to a
sailing vessel falling off from the wind. The Spanish were well established in
Florida in the 1600s and made numerous exploratory voyages up the east coast. An
early Spanish chart could have contained the name and later explores with
access to such a chart could have just transferred the name.
Biblical and
Mythological References
Nothing
surfaced after a review of Bible and mythology ‘search’ sites on the Internet.
Descriptive Words
“Bogue” in the gulf states of
Louisiana and Mississippi refers to a bayou, stream or waterway. The maker of
the Lawson 1707 map would have had to been familiar with Louisiana dialect
prior to visiting the Carolina coast. That usage of bogue is more of a generic
descriptor and not a specific identifier.
Names of Flora, Fauna and Geology
Bogue is the common name
of a species of sea bream (Boops boops), found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and
Mediterranean.
 |
| Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |
Another European fish (Box
vulgaris), having a compressed body and bright colors, is also called a box
or bogue. Perhaps the early
European surveyor/map maker noticed a type of fish that resembled the bogue
fish he was familiar with back home.
Fanciful Terms
A search of fantasy
literature offered no clues. Could an early explorer been so creative as to just
make-up a name?
What Can We Learn from Old Maps?
The name Bogue first appears
on a map from 1709 by John Lawson. On this map, the name is applied to the
inlet. The island and sound are left nameless.
Edward Moseley's 1737 map is
the first to use Bogue for the inlet, sound and banks. A survey titled "The Greater
Beaufort Area at 1800," completed by North Carolina State College, shows
the place name of present-day Bogue Banks as Bordens Banks and the present-day inlet near Beaufort as Topsail Inlet. The
name Bordens was based on William Borden who claimed ownership for a period in
the 1830s. That name fell out of use well before the Civil War. Other than that
period of a few decades in the early 1800s Bogue has consistently appeared as
the accepted name. Several maps from the late 1700s show the island in two parts seperated by Cheeseman inlet located about four or five miles west of Beaufort Inlet, where the Foodlion is located today. That inlet closed in the early 1800s, but while it was open the eastern part was named Stanford Island and the larger western part retained the name Bogue.
It is well to keep in mind that charts and maps from the 1500s to 1700s were hand drawn and the property of the Crown. Few copies if any were made; they were highly valued and kept under lock and key. They were, however, susceptible to being destroyed by fire, being lost at sea, rotting or decaying. Some older charts do exist, but the shoreline they depict is vague, with features left un-named.
- White - de Bry Map – 1590
- Mercator-Hondius Map - 1606
- Ogilby - Moxon Map -1673
- New Map of NC – Phillip Lea – 1690
 |
| Phillip Lea, 1690 |
It’s highly likely that old charts that have not surfaced for historians to study contain clues to the source of the name. Until then, we are each left to speculate based on the evidence at hand. I lean to the explorer being thankful for having caught fish to feed the crew, which resembled the bogue they were familiar with from the Mediterranean, and named the inlet in its honor. What do you think?
Why the title Banks instead of island? see "Banks, Outer Banks"
The
following were helpful in developing this post:
What’s in
a name? By Kara Nunnally, CarolinaSalt, Sept 5 2012
Sarah
Downing . Assistant Curator . Outer Banks History Center . PO Box 250 . Manteo,
NC . 27954
Pilotonline.com,
Catherine Kozak, Outer Banks, Northe Carolina, April 27 2009
Roger
Payne’s “Place Names of The Outer Banks”
NCpedia.org
historic maps