Thankyou to Alice for providing this information. that helps me a great deal with the puzzle . It certainly seems to fit that rel. means relinquished. I don't know how common this was in the C19th but they certainly did not go ahead and change their names legally so they obviously changed their mind. sarah Message: 3 Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2008 10:07:18 EDT From: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ENG-LAN-BOLTON] Latin Catholic baptism register - anglicising irish name... To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" There is a Latin verb relinquo/relinquere/reliqui/relictum which means to give up, like the modern English relinquish so possibly the full form of your rel would be relictus i.e. the name which has been given up. Best wishes Alice Clarke ********************************** This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of City College Manchester. If you are not the intended recipient, please be advised that you have received this e-mail in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. **********************************