Note that you can use std::map::find instead:

cMap::const_iterator itor = myMap.find(givenName);

std::map::find expects to be passed the key. This means that I would have to pass myMap.find(std::make_pair(givenName, ???));

Since the second parameter is compared this needs to be some value that std::map::find knows to ignore. If I could do this I wouldn't be trying to code my own comparison.

Ryan