My grandmother Alberta was called "Bird" by my grandfather. Maybe partly because she loved to talk to people. And one great-uncle, named Adelbert at birth, was called Delbert and Bert. As usual, spelling is of minor importance in genealogy, but learning all the possible versions of a name is a big help in tracking people in the public and family records. Anyone that says their name was "always" spelled XXXX needs to take some genealogy classes! Jay ----- Original Message ----- From: "Norm and Miriam Midkiff" <kidmiff@juno.com> To: <MIGENESE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: 29 June, 2002 1:05 PM Subject: Re: [MIGENESE] Help me if you can...... > > I have one census that has a son > listed as Birdie. Who in the world would name a son Birdie? > > Birdie was an alternate spelling of the nickname "Bertie", which was > short for Albert, Hubert, etc. It was a common nickname of that era. > > Miriam Midkiff > Spokane, Washington