Hi folks, We are told by the gurus (who teach the classes and write the books) that the main reason amateurs fail to bag their man is that they think name changes are significant. So those who think there is a difference between a Mc and Mac name or the way a name is written (little c, big c, no c at all, just a ' as in M'Elhattan) apparently slept through that part of the talk (I saw you there.....!!!). You can read more about this in the archives of the list and a few books named in the archives. Also if you have access to the standard surname books, they have short front essays on the evolution of British surnames. To summarize, English spelling was very late in standardization. If you doubt this, www.google.com for "The Faery Queen" by Spenser, an Irish immigrant living in Queen Elizabeth I's time. Spenser did go to school but his spelling is very creative. Our surnames were spelled phonetically. You had thousands of accents, each hearing and pronouncing names differently. Even the notion of a surname is very recent in some areas: Wales, the highlands, and Ulster. In Robert Bell's "The Book of Ulster Surnames" (the definitive work on Ulster surnames), he details many names that were used interchangable with others as late as 1900. I just opened it randomly and on my first attempt found on p 303 under NELSON that around 1900 Helson and Neilson were used interchangable in south Armagh. At various times and places people attempted to affix ethnic tags to surname spellings but these of course have no bearing on the religious and ethnic identities of ancestors, just of the current bearers. When there is no standardized spelling and no concept of a fixed surname, changing it is a no brainer. In fact the majority of our ancestors viewed a surname as a nasty thing, like a social security number. It was imposed by law by the British Gov in Wales, Ireland, and the highlands of Scotland. It's only purpose our ancestors knew was to make it easier for the government to draft you or hang you or make you pay more taxes. The same is true of the Social Security number. Names, the gov now knows, are too dang slippery to actually use to bag taxpayers and cannon fodder. We got to keep this in mind when bagging ancestors too <grin>. Thank the lord for DNA as now at least we have hope. So don't stump your toe on the most obvious rock in the path. There is no difference between a Mc and a Mac. If you think there is, read the definitive works on the topic and attempt to recant them. I think you will find that you can produce little evidence to the contrary (excepting of course what Grandma might have said !!). My maiden name is MASON, an occupational surname. Y ou'd think any fool could spell MASON, but in researching them in church records, I've found an astonishing array of spellings: Mazon, Maison (dude had too much French under his belt!), Masonne,to name a couple. If they couldn't spell MASON they sure can't spell our Gaelic surnames. They being officials writing down the name. Even if our ancestor had a notion how it was spelled, do you think the vicar, priest, or minister gave a toot?? He didn't. Nor did the sheriff or tax collector. Linda Merle ________________________________________________________________ Sent via the WebMail system at mail.fea.net