STEPHEN or STEPHENS

[Kennington]

My great grandmother's name was either STEPHEN  or STEPHENS .

I am confused by this, should I look up both names when searching, are separate records kept for each ?

Or is it one and the same name but just pronounced one way or the other ?

She also comes from Wales, where there seems to be plenty of both !

Any advice ?

Mary

[suttontrust]

It's the normal confusion that we all come across.  My ancestors were Clark until a registrar decided to stick an "e" on the end.  You will have to look for both, I'm afraid. 

[Ticker]

Hi Kennington

Suttontrust is right I'm afraid - spellings were very unreliable until relatively recently.  It is a disappointment to find that your own surname may be just the result of someone misspelling a different name at some point in the past! 

Good luck

Ticker

[Kennington]

Thanks to the two of you.

I will keep both spellings in mind when searching.
It's good this game isn't it ?

Kennington.