I appreciate this discussion of names. At least with a middle name or just initial of one sure makes research easier. In one line I work on every family, four or five at a time, there is a George or John. It would be much harder to work with the names without the middle name or initial. My husband was not given a middle name, just Adoulph, not even spelled correctly. We just made up a name for a middle name. He was born in 1934, and went to school during the War, he said he had many fights over his name as a youngster. Names are so important, Gwen

<snip> >My husband was not given a middle name, just Adoulph, not even spelled >correctly. We just made up a name for a middle name. He was born in 1934, >and went >to school during the War, he said he had many fights over his name as a >youngster. Names are so important, >Gwen I agree that names are important. They can make you strong or break you. Given my first name HAZEL and growing up in the 50s when Shirley Booth played HAZEL THE MAID, a popular comic book with the character WITCH HAZEL, a medicine WITCH HAZEL and then the surname of PAYNE, "Here comes the PAIN in the NECK, Here comes the PAIN in the BACK, etc. I told my first husband, who's deceased, after going together 4 years, I was really marrying him for his last name (;-} MILEY, I wouldn't be teased about it. Well, he hadn't, but after we were married we became SMILEY MILEY. My surname now is not joked about, but few people out of Louisiana pronounced it. LeBlank is wrong. Think of the 'A' as an "O" and the "C" is silent. It is French meaning "the white". I just have to pass this on: when my paternal grandmother sent my first child a gift she address it to MYLY. Hazel Payne Miley LeBlanc Scanned for viruses by Blue Coat http://www.WinProxy.com/