Hi Raymond > ... very clearly written down as > Gauderzie. Could someone identify the original italian first name that > could have been so transcribed? I wonder if despite the clarity of the name whether it could still possibly be interpreted differently by thinking of the shape of the word (eg g for z). Also "the substitution of 'z' or 'x' for 'g' is common in Venice and Emilia-Romagna" http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~torchia/names/italiannames.htm Some enumerators made quite a mess of Italian names. Luigi sometimes looks like Liugi with the dot clearly and neatly placed above the wrong letter or even Flugi, Govani, etc. The enumerator may have had preconceived ideas -eg that all Italian names ended in an ie sound so that he didn't hear the o. Looking at Gauderzie, zi doesn't seem to occur in names unless followed by o - zio. au is not very common either. Gua is much more common. Using the failrly long list of italian given names on http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~torchia/names/italiannames.htm, some suggestions for Gauderzie: Galeazzo Guadagno Gianluigi or even Eustazio or Constanzo Hope you can use these ideas to reinterpret the name if no-one can pin it down any better. Daphne in New Zealand - missing the AIFHS AGM this weekend