In a message dated 6/9/2004 6:21:19 PM Pacific Standard Time, Jenny.Joyce@sun.com writes: Hi everyone, I'm trying to transcribe a will and am stuck with a name. It is a daughter, and it appears to be "xpan". I have a scan of the section of the will if needed (if so, where do I send it to? Regards Jenny Hi Jenny, "X" usually stands for Christ, as in Christopher, so it might be Christian, which was used for both male and female years ago in England as well as in Colonial America. Sincerely, James E. Hargraves

James / Jenny: The letters that look like "Xp" are not our letters "X" and "p" but the Greek letters chi and rho. These are the first two letters of the word "Christ" in Greek, so "Xp" is often found in early manuscripts as an abbreviation for Christ, usually as part of a longer word - eg Christian, Christiana, Christopher, etc which would be written Xpian, Xpiana, Xpopher, etc. Best wishes Paul Prescott ----- Original Message ----- From: <JEH7698@aol.com> To: <OLD-ENGLISH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2004 2:43 AM Subject: Re: [OEL] Help with name > > In a message dated 6/9/2004 6:21:19 PM Pacific Standard Time, > Jenny.Joyce@sun.com writes: > > Hi everyone, > > I'm trying to transcribe a will and am stuck with a name. It is a > daughter, and it appears to be "xpan". I have a scan of the section of > the will if needed (if so, where do I send it to? > > Regards > Jenny > > > > Hi Jenny, > > "X" usually stands for Christ, as in Christopher, so it might be Christian, > which was used for both male and female years ago in England as well as in > Colonial America. > > Sincerely, > James E. Hargraves > > > ==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== > SEARCHABLE archives for OLD-ENGLISH: > http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=OLD-ENGLISH > --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.693 / Virus Database: 454 - Release Date: 01-06-2004