Kay, I think that this is pretty close to being on the mark. It was unique to a particular period of time (during the shift from a Dutch speaking society to an English speaking society) and place (the former Dutch colonies) and is not be viewed as a universal equivalency for all times and all places. I would like to make clear that the Geertje=Charity pair of names is not a true equivalency in that they do not share linguistic roots (they can't both be traced back to the same old Hebrew or old Greek or old Germanic name). Charity is also not a nickname for any one named Gertrude today, or even in the past, in the English speaking world. It is not derived from Gertrude nor vice versa. Perhaps it would be more accurate to refer to this pair of names as a substitution rather than as an equivalency. After writing my previous post, I remembered that in my stuff that I haven't worked on yet is an interesting couple. John Vannort, of Shrewsbury, married "Kerchey" Romine, of Shrewsbury by license issued 22 Aug 1766. [Nelson, p. 415] From notes taken from an old Romine family Bible, they had a daughter named "Kierchy", b. 4 Aug 1763 [Guy Tetrick Papers, Archives of West Virginia]. I suspect that both mother and daughter were named "Geertje" but if I don't remember that "Charity" was a possible substitute for "Geertje" in English language records, I may miss them in records in VA or PA or wherever else the hunt may lead when I start to work on them. Renee L. Dauven On 3/24/2012 5:38 AM, kaysfo@aol.com wrote: > > > I did this, and found most Dutch-English lists do not equate the name Charity with Geertje, but only with Gertrude or Trudie. I wonder if this Geertje = Charity switch is an anomaly peculiar to only certain areas.