In a message dated 18/06/00 4:00:21 AM Central Daylight Time, mackenzi@cytanet.com.cy writes: << However, there is a result for a John MACKENZIE and Mary MACPHERSON given as 1874 in Kingussie and Insh. Now, given that the name of the son is Alexander John MACKENZIE, is it feasible that there is a mistake on the marriage certificate, and that the name is in fact John MACKENZIE, or perhaps a mistake on Scots Origins whereby the middle name has been used instead of the forename? I would be extremely grateful if anyone could provide advice on this one, perhaps even a census lookup if someone has the time as I am completely stuck on this one. Many thanks in advance. Alan Mackenzie >> Because of our cultural habit of naming children after parents and grand parents it can get confusing when it comes to names. Thus you end up with 3 or 4 Johns or Willams or Alexanders etc. To clarify you start to use tags or nic names such as (and the Newtonmoore Avimoore area is crammed with MacKenzies) for Alexander John MacKenzie: Alexander, Alex, Alec, Alexander John, Big Alec, Wee Alec, John, Jock, Jamie, and or any combination of them. That is a very short list. In my case My Dad was John, my brother was Iain (Gaelic for John) and pronounced Eyownie for the old form of the Gaelic for John. My middle name is Richard after my Garanda on my mothers side, and my Uncle is Richard after his Grandfather. At their house I was always referred to as Richard and not David. So we had a Great Grandfather Richard, My Grandfather Richard, My Uncle Richard and myself Richard. That became 1: Granda for all of us to my Great Grandfather, 2:Granda from me to my Grandfather, Ritchie for my uncle, and Richard for me, or from Great Grand Father Richard for my Granda, Ritchie for my uncle, and wee Richard or Rich for me. Now on my father's side there was Alexander my Grand father, Alistaire my uncle, Alexander my Uncle, Alexander 2 male cousins, Alistaire 2 male cousins, then there were 2nd and third cousins of the same name. Just imagine Dinner time when we were all together. OK not confused enough here is the clincher, where I spent a lot of my youth and call home is a small village called Melveigh, away up in the North West Coast of Scotland. Population about 30 people, all called Mr. or Mrs. MacLean. That makes most of the first names and all of the last names exactly the same. Thank goodness a lot of the other relatives lived 15 miles away in Gairloch a thriving metropolis of about 200 people dogs and sheep at the time. Even in the bright lights and big city of Gailoch it was hard to be lost. There was Uncle Donald the Bobby, Uncle Donald the shepherd, Uncle Donald the Mechanic, Uncle Alistaire the Hotel owner, Uncle Alistaire the Smithy, Uncle Alisaire the crofter, etc., etc., etc. To keep it simple I have not used the Gaelic translations of their names, nor have I used all the names of all the people. Now to answer your question in the usual Highland simplicity, aye chances are a name could be inverted. Kindest regards; Dave M.