It's true for top-level element declarations only. Local element declarations are scoped to their surrounding complexType definition: e.g. in MODS there are two elements named <extent>, both in the same namespace but with different types. One is local to the content model for <physicalDescription>, and the other local to the content model for <part>. --Andy >>> [log in to unmask] 01/26/05 9:33 AM >>> Oh, wait; I think I misread you. You're telling me the element names must be different if you have different named definitions. Right?