There are various different accents and nicknames from different parts of the North East.

Geordies;
The Geordie accent is very well known these days but why are the people known as Geordies? George Stephenson better known as the railway pioneer invented the worlds first miners safety lamp and when miners in other parts of Britain adopted the newer Davy lamp the miners of Co Durham and Northumberland stayed loyal to Stephensons’ design the miners in other parts of the country started calling the North East miners Geordies.

An alternative explanation relating to Stephenson is that when in 1826 George Stephenson gave evidence to a Parliamentary Commission on the railways his blunt speech and dialect drew contemptuous sneers and some of the London–based commission even thought Stephenson was from Ireland ,Scotland or even Scandanavia such was the southerners ignorance of the Tyneside accent. From that date, it is said that Londoners began to call the Keelmen who carried coal from the Tyne to the Thames "Geordie".
These days Geordies are mainly recognised as being those from Newcastle and Tyneside.

Mackems;
The Mackems are those from Sunderland and Wearside the accent may sound similar to people from outside the region but even though Newcastle and Sunderland are only 13 miles apart the people from these cities can certainly tell the difference.The Mackem accent derives from the shipbuilding industry on Wearside when they built the ships they would say “we mackem and they tackem”.

Teesside;
The Teessiders have been landed with the nickname of Smoggies-short for smogmonsters-due to the high level of petrochemical factories on Teesside and in one respect this could be seen as almost a back handed compliment as Middlesbrough has retained much of the industry which Tyne & Wear lost in the 1980s and early 1990s during the era of Tory government.In fact Teesside could now be said to be the industrial heart of the North East.

South Shields;
The nickname for South Shields people is sand-dancers. One explanation why they are called this is that in the 1930s many Arabs who were serving in the British merchant navy chose to make their home in the town another less exotic explanation is that South Shields simply has a very long sandy beach! The world famous boxer Muhammed Ali had his wedding blessed in the Mosque in South Shields – the oldest in Britain.

Hartlepool;
The nickname for Hartlepool people is monkey hangers, so called because the legend goes that during Napoleonic wars a monkey from a French ship was washed ashore and was hung as a spy! While this may or may not be true it makes a good story.The people of Hartlepool take this in good part which is to their credit.

Northumbrians;
Used to describe someone from Northumberland, but could be applied to anyone in the North East and even the South East of Scotland as the kingdom of Northumbria extended from the Humber up to the Forth. There even used to be an ancient Northumbrian language.These days can apply to anyone from the North East region between the Tees and the Tweed.

Pit Yackers;
Nickname given to those who were employed and living in the Northumberland and Durham coalfields

Quaker;
Person born in Darlington. This name comes from the Quaker Christian movement which gained a following in Darlington, after the beginning of the Quakers (or Society of Friends) by George Fox in 1647, a movement which believes in non-violence.The link of the Quakers with Darlington is one that has remained to this day.

This page cannot do justice to the variety of dialects from across the North East region here are a few links which go into the subject in a bit more depth;

TeesSpeak from the south of the region;
http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/teesspeak/index.phtml

The Durham & Tyneside dialect group;
http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/durhamdialect/index.html

The English to Geordie translator;
http://www.geordie.org.uk/

Newcastle Forum is well worth visiting and entering into the debate.
http://www.newcastleforum.co.uk/index.php

The Northumbria Anthology;
A massive collection of recordings representing the musical heritage to be found in the region between the Tweed and the Tees.
http://www.northumbriaanthology.com/

The Northumbrian bagpipes are a unique and beautiful musical instrument which have been played continuously in the Northumbrian region for hundreds of years, to find out more about this instrument please visit the following website;
http://www.northumbrianpipers.org.uk/

Thomas Bewick;
Probably the greatest of North East artists and someone who was willing to portray the tough life of the people who were alive in the times he worked http://www.bewicksociety.org/

The Association of North East Councils is the political voice for local government in the North East. It represents all 25 local authorities in the region, throughout Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Durham and the Tees Valley on issues of concern to them and the communities they serve.
It is a cross-Party organisation, with all of its Members democratically elected and accountable politicians.
The Association aims to tackle real issues which matter to people, whether it be the level of funding coming to the region, the environment, health, crime and community safety, tourism, housing or economic development. It makes the case on your behalf to Government and other important decision-makers, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Its role in shaping, developing and implementing policy seeks to reflect the diversity of communities across the region, rural and urban, from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Middlesbrough.
http://www.northeastcouncils.gov.uk/index.cfm

Durham Mining Museum exists to maintain a mining museum to retain the knowledge and history of those that helped create the industrial revolution.The museum focuses on the mining culture, history, and heritage of the Durham Coalfield as well as the rest of the North East and Britain in general.
Included in the website is a record the disasters within the coal industry in the North East, and where possible, list the names of those that died.
A website which is well worth a visit.
http://www.dmm.org.uk/

Another great website dedicated to the mining industry is pitwork.net which was created by a North East(Blyth) born miner and includes information on the mining industry and its history as well as photos,songs poems and a lot more.http://www.pitwork.net/

For up-to-date news...
http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/
&
http://icteesside.icnetwork.co.uk/