>> How popular is the name Beatrice and its variants? > Allowing for some recorded as "Betty", etc, to be in the group, it looks > like about 0.1% of women were called Beatrice. It's difficult to be sure > but I would guess that it would have been a rare name in N E Scotland in > 1841. I would agree with Ray that Beatrice and variants are quite rare. However there is potential for confusion because Betty/Betsy is used as an abbreviation for both Beatrice and Elizabeth, and I have seen a couple of ladies who were variously recorded as both Beatrice and Elizabeth. (See the earlier thread in April 2005 "Duff look-up - mortlach" for an example of this.) So although it's unlikely, you cannot eliminate the possibility that a Beatrice was baptised Elizabeth and vice versa. An additional complication arises from the fact that Elspet(h) and hence Elsie, and Isabella, both originated as variants of Elizabeth. (Elspet(h) is the Scots version and Isabel(la) is originally the Spanish, though it has become Scottish by adoption. So a family with an Elspet, an Elizabeth and an Isabella actually has three daughters with the same basic given name! Anne