It has been my understanding that in the Catholic Church, close family members or friends were used as baptismal sponsors. This line of thinking may be leading me down the wrong road and I am becoming more confused in my thinking about the relationships of Irish families. My ancestor was Patrick Fitzsimons and Fanny Kiernan. Based on baptismal records, I believe Patrick had the following siblings: Phil, Anne, Owen, John and Mary, who is either a sibling or Phil and John each had a spouse named Mary. My Patrick and Fanny not only witnessed the wedding of a child of Owen Fitzsimons and his wife, but they were baptismal sponsors for Owen's first child named, Patrick (either after Owen's father Patrick or the baptismal sponsor Patrick). For this reason I supposed that Owen was also a sibling of my Patrick. There is a Patrick Kiernan and wife, Catherine Fitzsimons, who also resided close to Kilmore and my Patrick Fitzsimons and Fanny Kiernan were baptismal sponsors to their son, Patrick. Which lead me to think that there was a relationship there. Patrick Kiernan and Catherine Fitzsimons marriage record shows the parents of Patrick Kiernan as Felix Kiernan of Kilmore and Andrew Fitzsimons (I think he was of Kilmore, as well). Kilmore is where my Patrick Fitzsimons and Fanny Kiernan are from. This led me to conclude that my Patrick was a sibling of Catherine and Fanny was a sibling of Patrick Kiernan, and therefore a son of Andrew and a daughter of Felix. The logic became flawed when I received the marriage record of Owen Fitzsimons, which shows him as the son of Patt Fitzsimons. Patt, being spelled the same as my Patrick Fitzsimons in several of the records that I have found. In the Kiernan/Fitzsimons marriage, the child Patrick was named most likely for the father. I could think that my Fanny was a sibling to Patrick Kiernan, and that is possible, since his father Felix lived in the town of Kilmore. But then, why weren't there more Kiernan baptismal sponsors for the children of my Patrick Fitzsimons and Fanny Kiernan? In Baptismal records, are the female sponsors listed by their married names or maiden names? Any help or insight on determining these relationships would be appreciated. Thank you for your time. Patrice Schadt E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (6.0.0.386) Database version: 5.11060 http://www.pctools.com/en/spyware-doctor-antivirus/