There is a wonderful web site by the Church of Latter Day Saints to search for ancestors by name. It has been in Beta testing since April 1st. It has now been launched and announced on TV so it is quite busy. The best time to look about in 6 a.m. I am posting two urls, the first is to the main search page. If you want to concentrate on the "British Isles", which is where you would find Irish and Scottish births listed, use the second url, which is listed as a custom search. You will also find some marriage records. http://www.familysearch.org/ Click on Custom Search tab, or use the url below http://www.familysearch.org/Search/customhomepage.asp Click on International Genealogical Index. Key in your ancestors first and last name. Scroll down and click on the drop down menu for Region, and click British Isles. Then click search. You might have to experiment with your information if you get a lot of names from England. You can key in parents names, I would try with and without those names. You can also key in a year which would narrow the search. If you get the error message: http://server too busy, just click back to your previous screen and click search again. Don't narrow your search information in the beginning, and make allowances for changes in spelling of surnames.