Here is my stab at summarizing the spellings of the name which is the subject of this listserver. I haven't written the whole name in capitals because it seemed intrusive in this context. I have grouped the names by the way they sound to me when I try to pronounce them. ************ Kirwan Kirwin Kerwan Kerwin ************ Kierwan ************ Currawn (a 1750 rendition by an English clerk from hearing a name spoken, and it is possible that it might be the name which is now spelled "Curran" instead of the name which is now spelled "Kirwin, etc.") ************ Kervin Kirvan Kirevan Kyrvan ************ Kieravan Keerevan Kerovan Kerovane O'Quirivan, / . . / O' Ciardubain / / O' Chiardubhain ************ Kervick Kerwick ************ If the spellings, / . . / / / O' Ciardubain and O' Chiardubhain which were posted by David Kirwan are the most likely spelling of the name in Irish, then it seems to me that the variations, O'Quirivan, Kirevan, Keerevan, Kieravan and Kerovane are probably "best effort" recordings of the name for English readers and speakers by a writer who was hearing the name spoken by someone who either spoke Irish or had preserved the Irish pronunciation of the name and whose pronunciation was not affected by knowing how to read English, or was spoken by someone who may have been an Irish speaker, reader and writer whose pronunciation would not be affected by seeing the name written by an English speaker. The best example I can think of a change like this happening to pronunciation of a name is the pronunciation of two names in Nebraska. There is the town Papillion, Nebraska which is pronounced "puh-PILL-ee-un." Then, running through Omaha and emptying into the Missouri River is the Papio Creek, and Papio is pronounced "PAP-ee-yoh." If I remember right, early French traders gave the name, butterfly (papillion in French), to the creek because there was a host of butterflys there when they went past. People must have used the word for the creek many years before the founding of the town, and by that time, people could read, and used English language rules of pronunciation to work out Papillion to be "puh-PILL-ee-un." --- Tom Fitzsimmons Clonakilty, Co. Cork, Ireland tjfitz@iol.ie