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Topic: Immigrants - unintended name changes (Read 328 times)
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digital1
RootsChat Extra
 Offline
Posts: 62
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.natio
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They were definitely illiterate. Timeframe...mid 1800s.
No, they wouldn't know what was written, but my point is...at some stage, officialdom must have referred to them verbally by the name written down, abeit the wrong name. Maybe it's a thoroughly 21st century thing but I genuinely don't understand why they, or other immigrants in a similar situation, didn't say "Hey, that's not my name. My name's XXXX".
For a marriage, would the name have come from existing documentation? Would a couple have had to produce a birth cert in order to marry?
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Ireland: Collins (Cork, Limerick); Corcoran (Cork); Mullen (Galway); Corless (Galway); Mulvey (Sligo); Cryan (Leitrim).
England: Clayton (Lancashire)
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nickgc
RootsChat Senior
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Posts: 440
GGF J. James McLellan 1864-1908
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Hello again,
Having now scanned some of your previous posts I can now better see the process this name change went through. Certainly if the name was initially recorded as "Cryan", and ended up "Clayton", that is a vast change and must have made for difficult research. My guess is that the name was originally Creighton (or some close variant) and was a logical transcription from a heavily accented pronunciation.
Crayton to Clayton is the "big" leap. The census enumerator, or clerk at record office would only write down what he heard. I don't believe any documentation was necessary in the early days. Plus, many people were wary of authority and IF they ever did become aware that their name had changed, likely wouldn't go to the bother - and likely cost - to correct it.
One of my lines is Fuqua, originally something like "Fouquet". There are currently families from a proven branch with spellings from Fuqua, Fewqua, Fugua and many others, not to mention various pronunciations. All of them are easily traced back to a half a dozen sons in the early 1700s.
This is the stuff genealogy is made of, and trying to determine how these changes came about is all part of the fun.
Nick
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McLellan - Inverness
Greer - Renfrewshire
Manson - Aberdeen & Orkney
Simpson - Hereford, Devon, etc.
Flett - Orkney
Chisholm - Scotland
Wishart - Orkney
Shand - Aberdeen
Pirie - Aberdeen
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aghadowey
RootsChat Marquessate
 Online
Posts: 7073
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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Don't forget that at the same time an English official might have had difficulty understanding the name said with an Irish accent your Irish relatives would have also had trouble understanding the English accent.
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aghadowey
RootsChat Marquessate
Online
Posts: 7073
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
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I do know of one case where a man arrived in America from an Eastern European country (can't remember which one) and was told by the official at Ellis Island that his name would now be Brown (official couldn't pronounce the original name and man couldn't spell it for him). Thus he spend his entire life in the U.S. as Brown. In the last years of his life when the grandchildren heard the story they asked what the family surname had been and he refused to tell them as he said he didn't want to be sent back and the family never did learn their real surname or even where the grandfather had come from.
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Gillg
RootsChat Veteran
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Posts: 919
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A family I was researching had an Italian name from their father, who came to England in the 1820s. On every census the name was spelled differently, also on marriage, birth and death certificates for the following hundred years. I've no idea what the original correct spelling would have been, and there are wide variations. In one census the family had a large number of foreign lodgers, mainly musicians, and I'm sure the official just took a wild guess at all their names. Even if they spoke English, they were probably illiterate and couldn't spell the names out for the census records.
As an example, the family of Luigi/Louis/Lewis Brissolari were variously spelled:
Brissolari, Bripolari, Brissolri, Brissolere, Brissalam, Brizzolari, Brassolari, Bussolari, Brisslaery, Brissala, Brissilare, Brissalauri and Breslara 
The problem was often compounded by transcribers who couldn't read the original records.
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Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.ukFAIREY/FAIRY/FAREY, CHURCH from Easton, Ellington, Eynesbury, Gt Catworth, Huntingdon, Spaldwick, Hunts; Burnley, Lancs; New Zealand, Australia & US. HURST, BOLTON, BUTTERWORTH, ADAMSON, WILD from Milnrow, Newhey, Oldham & Rochdale, Lancs. |
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Sylviaann
RootsChat Aristocrat
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Posts: 2555
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One line in my family came from Jersey, Channel Islands. Their name was Pinoil.
One member came to England and his name became Pinwell, which is how the French name is pronounced. They didn't seem to mind as no-one through the generations has tried to correct the spelling.
Sylviaann
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Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.ukNorfolk: Gooch, Loveday, Lake, Betts Suffolk: Gooch, Crosby, Turner Hampshire: Laws, Burrows Kent: Beer Jersey: Barette, de Gruchy East London: Middleton, Gower, O'Farrell, Smith, Weston |
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A very dear friend of mine told me his family came from Russia and the Ellis Island people had no clue how to spell the name, so they summarily told him his name from henceforth would be "Brown"! Luckily, his family knew they came from Russia. Pat
