I'm often surprised that so many people query the spelling variations of a name. Quite apart from the fact that spelling variations occur because a person is illiterate and, therefore, is dependent on the 'hearer' writing down the correct name, have the people who question the spelling variations considered the fact that the scribes had to write with a quill dipped in ink? Abbreviations, under those circumstances, would be the norm! Surely everyone recognises that 'Rbt' = Robert, and that 'Jas' = James etc., without question! The same scribes will confidently wrote Mac as "Mc". It's all quite logical. Lyndall Canberra