Hi Mary A couple of possibilities for you. My grandmother (born in 1890) was called "Dolly" all her life. The name on her birth certificate was Dolina, and that's what was given in the 1891 census, but by the 1901 census it had changed to Donaldina (a not uncommon name in the highlands in the mid 1800s, and her parents came from Wester Ross), and that's the name she gave on official documents for the rest of her life. We always puzzled over how "Donaldina" became "Dolly" - it was only in the past year when we started researching our family history seriously that we discovered she was originally a "Dolina", which lends itself much more naturally to becoming "Dolly". So, depending on where Dolly Johnstone or her parents came from, it might be worth checking for "Dolina Johnstone" (check for "Dollina" too) and "Donaldina Johnstone". Less helpfully, however, "Dolly" was sometimes a pet name in its own right for the youngest daugher in a family, regardless of that person's given name. We'll just have to hope that that wasn't the case with your Dolly! HTH... Regards, Donna On Sun, 13 Jul 2003 03:47:39 -0400, "Ron & Mary Harris" <r_harris@sympatico.ca> wrote: >Any ideas on "Dolly"? I have an elusive relative, Dolly Johnstone, who went to NZ after WW1, but no one recalls her true given name. It wasn't Margaret, Sarah or Catherine - these were her sisters. Her mother was Agnes. Maybe it was just a nickname in it's own right. > >Mary