Robin, Not sure if you misread my email, but the first letter of Iestyn is an 'i' (not an 'l'); it's pronounced as if it were a 'Y' --- as in English 'yes-tin'. I have often wondered about that typical Armenian personal name ending '-ian' --- so now I know! The Welsh for 'son' is 'mab', earlier, 'map'. You'll have guessed that it's the P-Celtic (Welsh/Cornish/Breton) version of Q-Celtic (Scottish/Manx/Irish Gaelic) 'mac'. Best of luck in your search Sara ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robin VanBelleghem" <robinvb@home.com> To: "Sara Thomas" <sethomas@btinternet.com> Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2001 4:58 AM Subject: Re: Gosh it is quiet Hi Everyone I checked on the IGI for Lestyn there was 2 of them from Wales there is a couple also of Jestyn and Jestin, they are exactly how you suggested Sara with the ap in them. So both you and Jim are most likely right, since the earliest version I can find is in Wales, this aught to be fun trying to link all these names together. I am of Armenian decent and it seems our last names are the same, they take the father's first name and add ian on the end of it [ian means son of] my last name was Humpartzoomian, it is pronounced Hum- part-zoom-ian but I've come across a lot of interesting variations of this one this one as well. And you right Jim it would take all the fun out of researching if it was easy. Thank-You for your suggestions. Regards Robin -----Original Message----- From: Sara Thomas <Sethomas@btinternet.com> To: Robin VanBelleghem <robinvb@home.com> Date: Saturday, March 31, 2001 3:54 PM Subject: Re: Gosh it is quiet >Don't wish to butt in, but I immediately thought of the Welsh name >Iestyn --- usually a first name, but with 'son of' in front (ap >Iestyn) becomes a surname. Any Welsh connection? >Sara