The king lists supply a number of epithets for Nechtan: Morbet and Celchamoth and the Latin Magnus (the Great).
[1] In a rare change from a bald statement of names and years, the king lists provide a tradition linking Nechtan to the foundation of Abernethy: "So Nectonius the Great, Wirp's son, the king of all the provinces of the Picts, offered to Saint Brigid, to the day of judgement, Abernethy, with its territories ... Now the cause of the offering was this.
Nectonius, living in a life of exile, when his brother Drest expelled him to Ireland, begged Saint Brigid to beseech God for him.
And she prayed for him and said: "If thou reach thy country, the Lord will have pity on thee.
[3] It has been suggested that these traditions should be associated with a later Pictish king, with the very similar name of Nechtan nepos Uerb.