Sara Thomas sent me a message by Margaret Guider. Margaret wrote: >> Can anyone tell me whether persons named >> Neil used another name - like Daniel & Donald - >> are interchangeable? _________________________________________ Hi Margaret I have a website www.whatsinaname.net where I have tried to show the meanings and connections between Forenames which is why Sara asked me to comment. Neil is considered to be an English spelling of the Gaelic Niall. In Gaelic this is taken to have the meaning "champion". The only other name I have come across which has any connection with Neil is Nigel. This is because, in old documents in Latin, they used Nigellus for Neil. This has led to a confusion about the equivalence of the names and hence a tendency [I put it no stronger] for Neil and Nigel to become synonymous. For want of a better expression, I have classified this relationship as a "Lesser Synonym"", unlike Elizabeth and Isobel which are fully interchangeable and so, in my definition, "Synonyms". Incidentally Daniel is from the Hebrew with the meaning "God has judged". Because Domhnall, the Gaelic version of Donald, is sometimes Anglicised as Daniel the two names are also somewhat interchangeable and so I consider these to be "Lesser Synonyms". Donald is thought to be from the Gaelic meaning "world ruler" so there is no similarity in the derivation of these names either! Hope this helps. I've gone into greater depth than is in my website entries because you need to link across the entries to get the whole picture. Best wishes Ray Hennessy www.whatsinaname.net PS I am struggling with Gaelic names and the forms they can take in different cases so I haven't publicised the site outside the NE: Aberdeenshire & neighbouring counties. But it is freely available so I would welcome any and all comments, suggestions, corrections and even complaints.