a number of songs by british artists and groups contain the term "geordie" in the lyrics. i've often wondered about the origin and meaning of the term and have finally gotten around to checking it out. so, according to wikipedia:

geordie is a regional nickname for a person from the tyneside region of england, or the name of the dialect of english spoken by these people. depending on who is using the term, the catchment area for geordie can be as wide as the general north east of england, or as small as the city of newcastle, or various ranges in between. however sunderland is always excluded in the broader definitions and should never be considered geordie.

the geordie dialect owes its origins to the language spoken by anglo-saxon mercenaries that were employed by the ancient brythons to fight the pictish invaders after the end of roman rule in britannia, in the 5th century. the same language is the forebear of modern english; but while the dialects of most other english regions have been much changed by the influences of other foreign languages, norman-french and norse in particular, the dialects of northern england (including geordie) still feature many characteristics of old english, lost in standard english.

in recent times "geordie" has been used to refer to a supporter of newcastle united football club however this use is not as common as with the use of mackem for sunderland fans and is not entirely popular due to the proportion of people from south tyneside who self-identify as geordies but support sunderland.

a number of rival theories explain how the term came about, though all accept that it derives from a familiar diminutive form of the name george which was once the most popular name for eldest sons in the north east of england.

one explanation is that it was established during the jacobite rebellion of 1745. the jacobites declared that the natives of newcastle were staunch supporters of the hanoverian kings, in particular of george ii during the 1745 rebellion. this contrasted with rural northumbria, which largely supported the jacobite cause. if true, the term may have derived from a popular anti-hanoverian song ("cam ye ower frae france?"), which calls the first hanoverian king "geordie whelps", meaning "george the guelph".

another explanation for the name is that local miners in the north east of england used "geordie" safety lamps, designed by george stephenson in 1815, rather than the "davy lamps" designed by humphry davy which were used in other mining communities.

newcastle publisher frank graham's geordie dictionary states:

"the origin of the word geordie has been a matter of much discussion and controversy. all the explanations are fanciful and not a single piece of genuine evidence has ever been produced."

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