Name confusion...

[MacMahuna]

I have been comparing two possible siblings:

Michael Mahan baptised 23 October 1796 with parents Phelix Mahan and Alice Means or Mains
and 
Cate Mahan baptised 16 August 1807 with the same mother but Felemy Mahan as the father

Are Felemy and Phelix interchangeable?
And the same with Mahan and McMahon.

[Stanwix England]

That's odd.

Across the whole of Ancestry's database, there are only 18 entries with a forename of Felemy. Of these 18, the majority are Irish catholic records.

I think on the basis of that, I would presume that Felix and Felemy are the same person. Especially given that they appear to be married to the same person.

Here is a little something about the name Felemy

https://www.libraryireland.com/names/macf/mac-feidhlimidh.php

Ancestry has many more records with Felemy as a surname. I wonder if Phelix was Phelix Felemy Mahan and switched between the two from time to time?

That's just my opinion however, I can't be sure it's true.

[MacMahuna]

Thanks so much. It makes sense to me and, perhaps, the same with Mahan and McMahon?

[MonicaL]

Mahan and McMahon, I would suggest are simply surname variants, see:

www.johngrenham.com/surnamescode/surname_variants_locations.php?surname=Mahan

Monica

[MacMahuna]

Thank you

[Maiden Stone]

Michael Mahan baptised 23 October 1796 with parents Phelix Mahan and Alice Means or Mains
and 
Cate Mahan baptised 16 August 1807 with the same mother but Felemy Mahan as the father

Felix is a Latin/Roman name. Was it a Catholic baptism register? It was custom for a Latin version of  a forename to be written in a register. A person might have used a different version of his name in secular life.
The 2 children may have been baptised by different priests, each with their own style of recording names and spelling.
F and Ph are interchangeable. Felemy may also be Phelim.

Added. Which parish?

[MacMahuna]

Yes, it was Catholic. I also saw his name written as Phelix!

[Maiden Stone]

Which parish? It sometimes helps if we can look at a register for ourselves, compare styles of entries and handwriting and perhaps work out if they were done by different people.

Spellings of names weren't standardised 200 years ago.
The family concerned may not have been able to read & write. Depending on where they lived, their first language may have been Irish.
A person may have had several forename variants, Irish, English, Latin + short forms or ones they were known by their family, friends & neighbours. Surname variants were common. Two of my Irish ancestors were recorded under 3 versions of their forename on records in late 19thC. Maiden surname of one began with Mac and was different on 2 birth registrations.
Prefixes "Mac" and "O'" might be present or absent.

[MacMahuna]

No Parish name other than Armagh but Michael McMahon/Mahon was resident at Brackenagh at the time 1796