Hi

Part of the frustration of geneological research is dealing with the illegible handwriting or bad practice of registrars in Victorian times. I spent 6 months on a search for the rare Iland clan (meeting some charming people in the pursuit), only to find out that my Gt Gt Grandmother's family name was IRELAND which the registrar wrote down as ILAND. In one sense I'm sad not to be connected with the less than 100 ILAND's who exist (mainly in Australia and the US), but it gets me closer to my Irish roots and is very satisfying to find that, as one of the 70mn overseas Irish, I carry the name of the auld countrie in my ancestors' surname.

Best regards and good luck to all you Iland's out there.

Nicholas Hall