Background to our Name
Researches through the old Parish Records for East Lothian, Edinburgh and elsewhere show a considerable variation in the spelling of our surname.
The most common variants found are: Keappie, Kepey, Kepie, Keppey, Keppy, Kaipie, Kippie, Capie, Cappie, Cappy and Caipie.
As such variations do occur in the Records (mainly in the 17th and 18th Centuries) for what is clearly the same family or families, we have assumed that these resulted from the inability of the family member (or the Church recording official) to spell the surname with any degree of constancy. The illiteracy factor has also to be considered.
The most common spellings appearing by the beginning of the 19th Century were Keppie, Keppy, Keppey, Capie and, in a much reduced number, Cappie. While unable to prove the point conclusively, the authors believe that improving educational standards, coupled with the arrival of official registrations of births, marriages and deaths in 1855, forced individuals and families into adopting just one form of the spelling. It is interesting to note, in this connection, that most of our name who emigrated to Canada continued to adhere to the Keppy spelling - as did a number of families in England - while the majority seem to have adopted the Keppie form.
The Caipie and Capie spellings were prevalent in East Lothian, to the east of Edinburgh, in the earlier centuries (until the 17th and 18th Centuries respectively) - with Caipie recorded for our earliest known ancestors from the mid-16th Century. There were, however, a number of Capies in the Lanarkshire area of Scotland and it may be that their ancestors had moved west, possibly in search of employment. A smaller number of Cappies were located to the north of the Firth of Forth in Fife - and a similar movement to there, for the same reasons, is possible.