The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #10325   Message #4179280
Posted By: Lighter
15-Aug-23 - 05:29 PM
Thread Name: Origin: Riley's Daughter / Reilly's Daughter
Subject: RE: Origin: Riley's Daughter / Reilly's Daughter
The name "One-Eyed Riley is often found in the decades after the Civil War as a nickname, especially for criminals (presumably with one eye).

Joel Chandler Harris used it in about the same way as the modern "Joe Blow." From "Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings" (1880):

“Dish yer man mout hev a name, en den ag'in he moutn't. He mout er bin name Slip-shot Sam, en he mouter bin name ole One-eye Riley, w'ich if 'twuz hit ain't bin handed roun' ter me.”