Hello List, I'm a new boy to your list researching 4th Gt Grandparents, James Byers, b. Wamphray 1829 and Janet Bell b. Kirklandrigg, Dalton 1829. While researching Janet BELL I discovered, what to me is the amazing fact, that in the relatively short 8 year period from 1827 - 1834 there were no less than 22 different families named BELL in Dumfries-shire alone who all christened a daughter 'Janet'. And this does not, of course, take account of other BELL familys who may have christened a child by another name. Can anyone please assist me by providing an explanation for this very large preponderance of the surname BELL in this area? Best wishes to all, Tony.

Nor does it take account of all the BELL families who had a daughter called Janet who is not recorded in the OPRs. 22 families - or even 50 - doesn't seem like a lot to me though. Judy On 25 Mar 2010, at 21:04, Tony Burton wrote: > Hello List, I'm a new boy to your list researching 4th Gt > Grandparents, James Byers, b. Wamphray 1829 and Janet Bell b. > Kirklandrigg, Dalton 1829. > > While researching Janet BELL I discovered, what to me is the > amazing fact, that in the relatively short 8 year period from 1827 > - 1834 there were no less than 22 different families named BELL in > Dumfries-shire alone who all christened a daughter 'Janet'. And > this does not, of course, take account of other BELL familys who > may have christened a child by another name. Can anyone please > assist me by providing an explanation for this very large > preponderance of the surname BELL in this area? Best wishes to > all, Tony. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DUMFRIES- > GALLOWAY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message