Are the names Patrick and Peter interchangeable?

[Oso]

I have an ancestor, Peter McKenzie, who sometimes seems to appear on census info as Patrick.  I have been told that Peter and Patrick are so similar in Gaelic that the two names are sometimes interchanged or are synonymous with each other.  Can anyone clear that up for me?  He was from a pretty remote area of Scotland (Applecross, Torridon) so I suspect Gaelic was still in general use during his early lifetime (1820).

[daval57]

I've seen it several times, particularly with Irish family moving elsewhere.
Dave

[daval57]

Just found this....
http://medievalscotland.org/problem/names/padraig.shtml


Quote from above: 
 "In modern Scottish Gaelic, Patrick exists in several forms: Pádruig, Páruig, Para, and Pádair or Pátair. This last form led to confusion with English Peter, and the two names were often treated as equivalent in the 18th and 19th centuries ".

[Oso]

Thanks, Dave!  That's what I needed to know! / JERRY alias Oso

[MonicaL]

A brilliant site for checking on christian names variants, which a particular bias towards Scotland www.whatsinaname.net

Monica 

[Oso]

Thanks, Monica, I'll check it out!

[daval57]

Great link Monica.  You, or someone else, posted that before - I had it bookmarked but forgot all about it.  Ta for the reminder.

Dave

[ryanfam18]

Hello.  I just put into Google re the names Patrick and Peter being interchangeable, and your post came up.  I too was querying a Peter McKenzie who married Elizabeth Grant from Torridon.  Are we researching the same Peter McKenzie? If so, we will be related.   My ancestor is Peter and Elizabeth's daughter, Elizabeth who married William Ayres.