Hi Roy, Judy and Andrew, At the risk of adding more confusion to the discussion, it may or may not help to confirm that, working from my geological dictionary (pub. by AGI, 1972), kame is both a topographic feature and a geological deposit. As a topographical feature, it is a "long, low steep-sided hill" originating from the Scottish variant of "comb", a long, steep-sided ridge. As a geological deposit, it is a ridge or mound of stratified sand and gravel deposited by a glacial meltwater stream. All fine and good. However, I have not been particularly impressed with the use of geological terms on old or new OS maps of Scotland, and I don't think I have ever seen kame used in the name of a place. I don't live in Scotland, and I have only been involved with genealogy for about 12 years, but I do like to pour over maps. Alternatively, when I first saw the question, my reaction was that maybe this word might be a variant of cairn, which is a pile of rocks, often built by a herder with nothing else to do. With this interpretation, the 'm' would be 'rn', the 'i' is as normally used, and the 'c' has been switched to a 'k' which is moderately common with the surname Cairns. Maybe it would help to go back to where and on what map is that word? Don Asquith retired geologist, California

Hi Thanks to Don, Roy, Andrew & J A Olsen for the help with Minto Kaims. It is the birthplace of my grandmother - given on her birth certificate. Maybe there is a large rocky outcrop just near Minto. Is it a farm name or village name? Regards Judy -----Original Message----- From: Don Asquith [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 8:10 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [SCT-ROX] Minto Kaims Hi Roy, Judy and Andrew, At the risk of adding more confusion to the discussion, it may or may not help to confirm that, working from my geological dictionary (pub. by AGI, 1972), kame is both a topographic feature and a geological deposit. As a topographical feature, it is a "long, low steep-sided hill" originating from the Scottish variant of "comb", a long, steep-sided ridge. As a geological deposit, it is a ridge or mound of stratified sand and gravel deposited by a glacial meltwater stream. All fine and good. However, I have not been particularly impressed with the use of geological terms on old or new OS maps of Scotland, and I don't think I have ever seen kame used in the name of a place. I don't live in Scotland, and I have only been involved with genealogy for about 12 years, but I do like to pour over maps. Alternatively, when I first saw the question, my reaction was that maybe this word might be a variant of cairn, which is a pile of rocks, often built by a herder with nothing else to do. With this interpretation, the 'm' would be 'rn', the 'i' is as normally used, and the 'c' has been switched to a 'k' which is moderately common with the surname Cairns. Maybe it would help to go back to where and on what map is that word? Don Asquith retired geologist, California ______________________________