Ira and All, From: Sigurd Eliassen <sigurde@spjelkavik.vgs.no> Date: Thursday, 1 January 1998 23:44 >If it was possible to do a quick search by given name, as quick as >pressing N for the Surname list, I could just enter Ola and look if I >can find any Ola living at Brandal in the actual period of time - and >link him to his daughter. I would add my support to this proposal also. My database of also 12,000+ people is heavily weighted in the medieval era, such that I have 65% of people without surnames. Many of the surnames given in "source" information are not true surnames, and get picked up incorrectly. In other cases, there are also several "optional" names by which the person may have been known. In all these cases, the First or Given name provides the only reliable method of checking for the existence of a simllar or of a duplicate instance of the person. Regards, Ian Fettes Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Reply to: fettesi@st.net.au