Jerry, Thanks for the historical and etymological help. (I hope I spelled that right!) This research is still a bit problematical. There were people listed in the Annals of the name Ailche prior to the Viking incursions. I have found a list of names representing old Irish names used as synonyms for similarly sounding Norse names. This is one such example. Secondly, I got the reference to Helgi the Bold from Saxo Grammaticus' History of Denmark so naturally, I assumed him to be Danish. In fact, he was born in Norway. That leads me to again conclude that Ailche was an ordinary Viking of Waterford or Tipperary circa 1000 AD when surnames came widely into use in Ireland. Michael O'Hearn ____________________________________________________________________________________ Bored stiff? Loosen up... Download and play hundreds of games for free on Yahoo! Games. http://games.yahoo.com/games/front