Hi Chris, > Pam, Jim, et al, > > I'm curious, has Elizabeth Shown Mills published a "study," or at the > least, her arguments against the existence of naming patterns and/or > their usefulness when conducting genealogical research? If so, where > would it be found? > > Chris Chester According to on-line sources (such as the results from a Google search), Elizabeth Shown Mills is the author of 13 books and over 500 articles that have appeared in magazines and/or journals. Jim Brady referred to her opinion ("study") on naming patterns as it relates to baptismal sponsors, which is addressed here (and also includes some of her books): http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/APG/2005-12/1134357258 > P.S. > I suppose I should cite my source for those statistics above <g>. See > . . .Elizabeth Shown Mills, "Family and Social Patterns of the > Colonial Louisiana Frontier: A Quantitative Analysis, 1714-1803" > (Senior Thesis [Honors], University of Alabama, 1981), 202. Beyond that, I do not know of an article or book that is specific to naming patterns, so you'd have to do some further research, or at least follow the APG thread cited above. A debate between Elizabeth Shown Mills and Patricia Law Hatcher on the validity of naming patterns was planned at one of the regional ASG conferences (back in 2008), but was canceled due to scheduling conflicts. Regards, Pam