Paul wrote that he would have thought that naming convention would have promulgated from the historic culture more so than a religion. Paul I think you are right that Naming convention of the Irish was a culture thing Remember the families that came to Ireland with the plantation of English Protestants had their own culture, Williamite settlements c.1692 to 1700 and every endeavour was put in place to keep them apart The English Protestant would use naming pattern of their ancestors . Maybe by studding the Naming Pattern of our protestants ancestors would tell us were they emigrated to Ireland from. Regards .Dave Visit my homepage http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/djgriff/