Thanks Sue and Robert for your interest. When I first came across this issue of "alias" I found some more examples on the internet - see below. ANSWER A "Al" is the abbreviation for "alias." Aliases were used in cases of illegitimacy, upon remarriage of a parent, upon inheriting property from a female relative, etc. It was not uncommon for a man to take an alias if he married a woman from a family with as illustrious name (and especially if no male heirs lived to continue the said name). Oliver Cromwell often used "alias Williams because one of his ancestors (surnamed Williams) had adopted the surname Cromwell in the 16th century from his uncle, Henry VIII's minister, Thomas Cromwell (The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History and Ancestral Trails). In some cases the alias form was inherited for several generations and thus similar to the hyphenated surname today. ANSWER B In the earliest entries the name is spelled Wyckwarre, Wyckwarr, Wyckware, Wickwarr and Wickware. In a considerable number of entries in the latter half of the century the name is written "Wickwarr alias Clarke," or Clarke alias Wickwarr." This use of a double surname was quite common at that time, being somewhat analogous to the more modern hyphenated surname. It is probable that a marriage took place between a member of the Wickwarr family and a member of the Clarke family, and that both names were thereafter used, in order to preserve the right to an inheritance, or for some similar reason. ANSWER C Question: I have found some of my ancestors in North Wiltshire in the 16th and 17th centuries have the surname Peddington alias Tuck, which continues for several generations. What does the 'alias' mean in this case? Answer: The 'alias' in a surname can come about in several ways, including illegitimacy, the remarriage of a parent or the inheritance of property from a female relative. There are quite a few cases where the 'x alias y' name continues for several generations and in late medieval and early modern England it was the equivalent of a modern double-barrelled surname. There is the possibility in the inherited property usage that the name continued while the family still held the property originally inherited from the female relative. Back to me! I noticed on Robert's website the information about the MARTEN family and, in particular, that there were 5 daughters and no sons. Could the link between WATTS and MARTEN be somewhere here? I see that these 5 daughters were married off but did their descendants use the name MARTEN? Could one of them have married a WATTS? Cheers Carole -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.9.11 - Release Date: 14/04/2005