Noting that young children's initial writing efforts are often dismissed as insignificant scribbling, a study explored children's emerging understandings about written language as indicated by the changes in 47 preschool children's autographs. Throughout a school year children were asked to write their names and draw pictures of themselves. Children's name writing samples, spontaneous verbal comments, and literacy-related activities were recorded throughout the year. The data were collected under both structured and spontaneous conditions. Results revealed that conventional or even recognizable autographs did not suddenly appear or result from the copying of models. Rather, autographs evolved over time as children devised strategies and followed intuitive rules while solving the problems of distinguishing writing from drawing, generating the culturally significant actions involved in writing, discovering the distinctive orthographic features of letters, and eventually controlling the conventions of name writing. The results support the conclusion that name writing is ideographic and not based on knowledge of letter names or on understanding letter/sound correspondences. (HOD)