My experience with Catholic parish registers and naming patterns has been that the priest gave the child a baptismal name which often was the name of the priest's favorite saint. It is not uncommon to find the same baptismal name (i.e., saint's name) used for nearly every child in the parish during the tenure of any given priest. This baptismal name is what would appear as a "first" name. The "middle" name is the child's actual name. The baptismal name was generally not used by the individual with the possible exception of a legal document (deed, marriage, etc.) Bob, in northern Calif. ============