Raven: Not sure of the Irish spelling but Colonel Blankenship in his book stated he knew of 31 spellings. When we went to England and to Haltwhistle which he mentioned in his book, we saw theBlenkensop spelling. Colonel speaks of the English and American spellings but says nothing of the Irish. It seems that both Sop and Ship are corruptions of "hope" so Blenken's hope became Blenkinsop and Blankinship. Hope someone comes up with something to add to this. Nolene