I didn't mean to set myself up as the resident expert on names. I don't qualify, not by a long shot. (g) But one source I've found useful for dealing with questions like this is a book of names, such as expectant parents buy to pick out a name for their child. I have several, the best of which is called, rather immodestly I think, "The Best Baby Name Book in the whole wide world" by Bruce Lanksy. The nice thing about this book is it gives many variations of common names as they appear in different cultures. Under the name Helen, it gives the meaning (Greek for "light" in case you were wondering), then it lists literally dozens of variations on the name. It doesn't have an entry for Magdalena but under Madeline it lists Magdalena and dozens of other variations of Madeline. It also refers the reader to the entries under Maida. The only overlap between those two names that the book suggests is what you've already pointed out: Both names are abbreviated Lena. So it doesn't appear that the two names were intechangeable. Though I could be mistaken, I suspect something else accounts for the different names being attached to the same women in your research. Some possibilities: The person may have been named Magdalena, and went by Lena. Some local bureaucrat, census taker, or other genealogist (depending on what source you are referring to), may have incorrectly assumed that Lena was short for Helena. Or the other way around. This has happened to me involving a woman named, coincidentally enough, Helen M. Lesmeister. ( Even more coincidentally, the M. may stand for Magdalena.) Helen's actual name is, I believe, Helianna. Some census taker apparently thought her name was Anna though. This is more likely to occur I think when the official or later genealogist is not familar with the name, or perhaps misunderstood the accents of the person providing information. I have another census record wherein my paternal grandfather, name Pius, was misidentified as Peter. I guess the census taker thought they said "Petrus" and translated the name for them. Another possibility is that custom we've discussed here recently of giving a spiritual first name (which is often common to every child of that sex in the family) and a second name which is the one the person actually used in daily life. Thus, perhaps the person was named Magdalena Helena, and the first name is what you've uncovered in church records, and the second secular name is what's in the civil records. Of course there are many possible explanations, that's just two I'm familiar with. Mark J. L. Lesmeister -----Original Message----- From: Dawn Linden [mailto:dlinden@ipa.net] Sent: Sunday, January 24, 1999 1:41 PM To: TRIER-ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [TRIER-ROOTS-L] What's in a name Dear Mark who was baptised Marcus Johannes Lesmeister, Twice this week I have found women called both Helena and Magdalena. Are these names interchangeable? They don't appear to be alike except for the "lena." Dawn