On Fri, 2 Jan 2004 10:18:16 -0500, "Mick Gurling" <[email protected]> appears to have written: > >Within reason anything can be used as a forename if the parents choose it. >Thus many have through history been given, as their formal forename, what >was once considered to be a nickname or abbreviation of another name. Thus >the real answer is it depends on the parents' choice. Beyond the extreme outliers there are also name trends that are tied to time periods. There was a interesting thread earlier about whether Bessie was a given name or a nickname. One poster mentioned that Bessie as a given name was extremely uncommon outside of 1890-1910. It's no wonder that family history researchers know all kinds of interesting titbits. It's all part of the job... Cheers, Doc