Use element name with Descendants operator
using System; using System.Linq; using System.Xml.Linq; using System.Collections.Generic; class Program//from ww w .j a v a 2 s . co m { static void Main(string[] args){ XDocument xDocument = new XDocument( new XElement("Books", new XElement("Book", new XAttribute("type", "Author"), new XComment("This is a new author."), new XElement("FirstName", "Joe"), new XElement("LastName", "Ruby")), new XElement("Book", new XAttribute("type", "Editor"), new XElement("FirstName", "PHP"), new XElement("LastName", "Python")))); IEnumerable<XElement> elements = xDocument.Element("Books").Elements("Book"); // First, we will display the source elements. foreach (XElement element in elements) { Console.WriteLine("Source element: {0} : value = {1}", element.Name, element.Value); } // Now, we will display each source element's descendant elements. foreach (XElement element in elements.Descendants("LastName")) { Console.WriteLine("Descendant element: {0}", element); } } }