The discussion of names & nicknames brought to mind my grandfather.  When I requested a copy of his sister's obituary, the funeral home sent me the original page from the 1976 newspaper that the obit was on (someone there must be a pack rat worse than me!).  The surviving siblings included a Tom but not my grandfather Anthony Joseph (A.J.).  When I asked my dad about this, he told me my grandfather's brothers & sisters all called him Tom (knowing the right question to ask leads to more information!).  I had heard the story that my grandfather boxed professionally for about 2 years before he married my grandmother in 1910.  In 1906, he left home in New York City and went to live with an older brother in Jersey City, NJ.  He decided to box and used the name Tommy Leonard (after Leonard Street where his first bout was, wish I could find out why he chose Tommy) so the family wouldn't know & worry.  Well, I guess his secret didn't last long because my dad said his brothers & sisters found out and started calling him Tom.  So, if you can find out why a family member was called by a nickname or a completely different name, you may find another part of their life that you didn't know about.  I have newspaper articles about my grandfather's boxing and it has told me a lot about the type of person he was growing up ("At one time in his youth, he considered studying for the priesthood...When Tom was confirmed, he made a pledge that he would never drink, smoke or curse.  He kept the pledge all these years.").  If you have someone growing up in a large city in the early 1900's, maybe sports was a big part of their life and that's where their nickname or different name came from.  Mary Jane    ==== GenTips Mailing List ==== Don't forget to stop by our business web page for FREE genealogy forms and charts! We are adding more all the time!!!! <http://www.genrecords.com/>http://www.genrecords.com