Steve Simmons writes: So are there family names as well as patronymics? If so, what is Vlads patronymic? I don't recall his fathers name being mentioned. I assume that Noish-pa is using 'patronymic' as a synonym for 'surname'. I haven't seen any patronymic forms in any Easterner names, so i don't think his meaning was strict. rone -- {Reagan's} presidency always reminded me of a remark made by a woman to Heywood Broun following Secretariat's victory in the Triple Crown. After the trauma of Vietnam and Watergate, she said, Secretariat had "restored her faith in humanity." I like to think Reagan was the Secretariat of the eighties. - Garry Trudeau