Hi all, Wow, I think we got a very useful discussion going there about given names & their often strange paths to becoming short forms or nicknames! For any researcher just starting out with Scottish genealogy & unfamiliar with their naming system, it must be quite a minefield, at first. I was just thinking of a family I know, in Argyllshire; cousins of my Dad & how only one of the eight actually went by their proper given name - Teena (Christina), Cathie/Kay (Catherine), Isa (Isabella), Neilly (Neil), Hughie (Ewan), Mamie (Mary), Nancy (Ann) & Iain! Then there's the other type of nickname. For instance, the McGregors of Balquhidder, Perth; Rob Roy's kin - practically every one was Peter, John, Hugh or a few other given names, all living there at the same time. So how did they sort them out? Big John, Red John, Dark John (in Gaelic, of course), but unfortunately these names rarely survived & all we are left with are the given names on the census - names they may never have been known by during their lifetime. My Dad knew a man, in Scotland, called Johnny Nan. His name was actually John MacDonald, but due to the overabundance of similarly named fellows in the area, he was John - Ann's (Nan) son - MacDonald, or just Johnny Nan. Now try & look him up on a census 100 years from now! My grandfather was Malcolm MacKellar, but went by Caldy for his first name. Has anyone ever heard of that one? Mary