I have a document that looks something like

<root>
    <element>
        <subelement1 />
        <subelement2 />
    </element>
    <element>
        <subelement2 />
        <subelement1 />
    </element>
</root>

In my XSLT sheet in the context of /element[2]/[someNode] I want to get a number that represents the distance of /element[1]/[someNode] (ie, the number of preceding siblings of /element1/[someNode]). For example, in the context of /element[2]/subelement1 I'd like to have some way to get the number 2, the distance from /element[1] to /element[1]/subelement2. I only ever need the distance of the given node name from the first instance of .

Intuitively I thought I could construct this like

 <xsl:variable name="nodename" select="name()" />
 <xsl:value-of select="/element[1]/$nodename/preceding-sibling::*" />

but unfortunately this sheet doesn't compile. Is what I'm trying to achieve possible in XSLT?