<<snipped>> Not just consonants - the vowels are quite different, even if the spelling is the same. Peter <<snipped>> Agreed - though my impression is that vowels are more susceptible to shifts from accents (anyone caring to disagree, please do so!) I think I mentioned my Spode / Spord family where the two spellings refer to the same family (again, from Cheshire). Did two different family members have different accents and both names are phonetically written by the clerk? Or was it always pronounced "Spord" and there are two clerks, one who wrote phonetically and the other who knew the "correct" spelling? Either way round, I think we both agree that Pickstock being rendered as, or changing into, Pickstone (or vice versa) is not hugely likely - not impossible either, but needing solid evidence of matching families, say. Adrian